Don't Let Me Fall
by RossLover2012
Summary: Ally is devoting her whole Summer to her best friend Dakota. But when Dakota's brother Austin returns home for good after being away to a private music school, will that make it tough for Ally to focus? Austin has changed a lot and she can't help but feel attraction to the forbidden 18 year old. Will things go good, or bad? I suck at summaries, read! you won't regret it. OOC.
1. Chapter 1

I wake up to the sounds of birds chirping outside of my window. It's early, I can tell, from the chill in the air and the ache in my head. I didn't like mornings, and I definitely do not like extremely early mornings, like today. Why am I up this early, might you ask? Well I sadly promised I'd help my best friend Dakota with a summer REC program. It involves early morning, running around playing tennis, with small children. I have a terrible feeling that I may end up hurt by the end of the afternoon, because I am awfully clumsy.

I remove the covers that were lying comfortably on top of me, and drag myself to the bathroom. I take a shower, and get dressed. I almost thought of wearing tennis like outfit, but I decided to stick with a baggy T-shirt and shorts. I'm hoping I won't have to do much of the whole tennis _playing_. I thought I could just stand back and watch, or walk the children to the bathrooms when necessary.

I walk downstairs and grab a waffle out of the freezer and stuff it in the toaster. I lean on the counter causally and yawn while I stare at the toaster, waiting impatiently for it to pop up. But when the clock on the microwave grabs my attention, I realize that I'm running late, and I need to go, _now_. I force the waffle to pop up now, and throw it in the garbage-a waste, I know- and grab a granola bar that's lying on the counter, probably my father's future snack, but hey, it's an emergency.

I walk at a fast pace towards the local tennis court. The sun is already starting to warm up for such an early hour and I'm regretting my decision to help out Dakota, but we agreed to devote our summer to each other, and she and her parents had an agreement to a future car if she volunteered at these summer programs. Therefore, I was automatically expected to help her out, so we could have our summer together.

It's only been a week since school got out, and we haven't spent a day apart since. I am spending the night at her house tonight, and I'm joining her family in there welcome dinner for her brother Austin. He goes to some private school in California, it's some talent school, he sings and dances and plays the guitar, and many other instruments. He usually lives there with his Aunt, but he's done with school now and he's coming home for good. I haven't seen him since he left, which was when I was 10, and he was 12. I don't really remember him much, but he and Dakota are close, and the three of us always hung out. So I can say I am sort of excited to see him, but it's not all I'm thinking about, except for right now…

When I make it to the court, Dakota is waiting for me, along with 15 other small children. They are in a line and taking turns hitting a tennis ball at the other end of the court; which I find a little odd, since they are hitting the ball at, nobody. But I'm not complaining, since it's better that no one is at the other end than me, they aren't hitting very well.

"About time you arrived." Dakota says.

I shrug, "At least I showed up." I say.

She hands me a tennis racket, "Show us your best serve." She says, and all the kids turn their focus on me, and wait anxiously for me to impress them. I shake my head, "I can't. I never play tennis; I don't do well in sports." I say and then drop the racket on accident, even though it helped me prove my case.

My best friend shakes her head at me impatiently and sends the kids over to pick up all the tennis balls.

After a while, it's time for the kids to leave. We wait for their parents to come and pick all of them up, and finally when the last little black haired girl's mother appears, apologizing for being so late, we're free people, and can leave.

"That was such a fun time." She says sarcastically. I laugh at her as we walk to her house. We have to help her mother set up Austin's room. It's funny because when he left, Dakota's dad made his room his own office, against his mother's wishes. Now she is very happy to make it back into Austin's room. We're going to go to the supermarket and pick up bed sheets and such.

When we get to the house, Mimi (Dakota's mom) makes us pancakes. All Mimi says is how this is Austin's favorite meal, and she can't wait for him to come home. I actually can't wait for him to get home, because then I can stop hearing about him. I sometimes wonder if he is actually as awesome as they all make him to be.

After we eat, we head to the store. Now, that is a drag and I will take teaching kid's tennis over it any day. I barely know Austin, but now I could be his best friend. His mother pointed out every single thing he likes. Oh, and I could probably underwear shop for him any day. Oh, and did you know that Austin is really into brunette girls? And he doesn't have a girlfriend, even though he goes to a famous performing art school? Well he is, he doesn't, and he does.

After long hours of unpacking his things from the basement, arranging and re arranging the furniture and making the bed, the day is finally over, even though it's really not, because Austin is just moments from arriving, and then hopefully I can go to sleep.

Dakota finishes up vacuuming and joins me downstairs. I'm standing awkwardly beside her parents while they watch the door. Mimi fixes herself in the mirror about eighteen times, and Mike (Austin's father) yawns about twenty times. Dakota sits down on the couch and sighs, and that's when the footsteps at the door are heard.

When the door opens, I can't help but me shocked at what I see. It's Austin, that's for sure. He has the same familiar platinum blonde hair, and dark, puppy dog eyes. But he's so tall and built well. And you can just tell in his features he's matured. Which that would be obvious, since the last time I saw him was when he was 12, so technically he should have matured, and what am I even talking about?

He sets his bags down gracefully and hugs his mother. His smile on his face is sincere, and breathtaking. I can't believe how tall he's gotten; he must be over 6 foot. He has a black v-neck shirt on and a leather jacket to cover it. His ripped jeans go well with the rest, and his hair is extra shaggy. He hugs his father next and then Dakota.

When he turns to me, he does a sort of double take, and then smiles, "Ally Dawson?" He asks. I know what you're thinking, he must visit, this can't be the first time his family is seeing him in 7 years. He has visited yes; but never when I was around, so I'm the only one who hasn't seen him this long.

I nod, "Austin Moon?" I ask, trying to sound surprised.

"It really has been a while." He says, and he looks me up and down. Is he really checking me out?

"Ahem." Dakota interrupts.

"Just bring your bags to your stupid room I've been stuck in all day." She says.

Austin laughs and gets her in a head lock, "I've missed you little sis." He says.

She squirms out of his grip and pats her hair back to a normal place, "Yeah whatever. Can I go to sleep now?" She says, eyeing her mother.

Now, don't judge her so quickly. She is happy to have Austin back, but when she's tired-or like right now- over tired, she gets quite angry.

"No you cannot. We're having dinner in a moment." Mike says.

She groans, and Mimi goes into the kitchen to finish making dinner. After still standing there awkwardly, listening to Austin brag about his grades, Mimi calls us in for dinner. I follow Dakota to the table and sit down next to her. She grabs as much lasagna and she can and starts eating. I grab a decent amount and begin to eat.

Austin grabs some too and then is flooded with questions from his parents. Dakota and I don't say or ask anything. We eat quietly and listen to all the stories about his school, and music, and… girls.

Apparently even though he's single, he gets around. He mentioned at least 10 different girls, and I know it doesn't mean he's doing things with them or something, but he makes himself sound like a bit of a player. I don't really care to know about it, or anything… I just don't care.

After we're excused from the table, Dakota and I go upstairs to her room. She goes out to the hallway to the bathroom, and takes a shower and get's into her PJ's. When she's done, she comes into the room and pretty much crashes. She lies down on her bed and is passed out in about 4 minutes. I decide to get ready for bed too, so I go into the bathroom and get changed. When I'm done, I open the door and walk into the hallway, and Austin's leaning against the wall, with a towel in his hand.

"Hi there." He says with a smile. His leather jackets off, obviously, we're inside! And his v-neck t-shirt really shows off how muscular he is, and damn it, he's so attractive…

"Hi." I say, and try to stare at the floor or the wall or anything that's not him.

"It _really_ has been a while." He says.

"Yes, just about 7 years." I say.

He giggles, "You remembered." And I can't help but feel embarrassed that I did.

"Well, yeah I guess." I say.

"How's your life been?" He asks me.

"Obviously boring compared to yours." I say.

He switches from leaning on his back, to his shoulder, "What's that supposed to mean?" He asks a smirk on his face.

"I don't know, just your stories of your school and everything." I say.

"Oh, well I guess. I'll miss that, but I'm happy to be home." He says and winks at me. He then walks into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

It's funny, he's about to take a shower, yet he smelt like a fresh summer breeze. I sigh and walk into Dakota's room. I lie down on the bed that pulls of out hers. I stare up at the dark ceiling, trying to stop my thoughts about my best friend's brother, Austin, the forbidden boy, the older boy, the extremely hot one.


	2. Chapter 2

**I am so glad you liked the first chapter, thanks for reviewing and keep reviewing! i'm trying to make each chapter longer than i usually do, so don't be weary if i don't post a new chapter very fast, but i wanted to get this second chapter up to you. I wanted to see if anyone would like it! Enjoy everyone**

The next morning, it's a repeat of yesterday morning. We both got up early to get ready for another fun filled morning of Tennis. But at least this time I got to eat breakfast. Mimi works at an office about an hour away as a receptionist, and Mike works at a factory in town, so none of them are home. But when we go downstairs, Austin is cooking breakfast. I don't know why, but I suddenly feel embarrassed at my messy morning hair when he looks at me. I want to run away, and go back upstairs, but I think that'd be suspicious.

When he looks away I try to flatten it a little, until Dakota looks at me weird, so I stop, "What are you two up to this early?" Austin asks, "Tennis, summer program." Dakota says threw bites of scrambled ?

Austin laughs, "Okay, what are mom and dad bribing you with?" He asks, while breaking open more eggs.

She rolls her eyes, "Nothing, I'm just a mature adult now." She says.

I can't help but giggle, and she gives me a dirty look. Austin smiles at my response, and tries not to laugh too, "No, I'm an adult, I'm 18. Your 16, you're a kid."

I don't know why, but hearing him says that made me sick to my stomach. She's just a kid, which means I am too, not that it matters, I'm not interested in him or anything. I don't know what my problem is.

"I am not a child." She whines.

Austin shakes his head, "Right, so what is it?"

Dakota doesn't say anything, but she gets up and throws her egg away and goes upstairs to get dressed I assume. So that means it's just me, sitting at the counter trying to eat, while Austin's standing in front of the stove.

"It's a car." I tell him.

His eyes go big, "Wow really?" He asks. I nod.

"Figures it's something big to get her out of bed in the morning." He says, "But what I'm wondering is, what she has over you to make you do it."

I shrug, "Nothing really. We promised to hang out like all summer, and I guess she assumed that meant I had to be included in all her activities." I say.

"That's not cool. You need to be doing fun summer stuff, not dealing with little kids." He says.

I shrug again, but don't say anything, "Maybe sometime"- he starts but Dakota yells for me upstairs. He looks at me and rolls his eyes, "Have fun." And with that I head upstairs, where Dakota is standing in her room.

"What?" I ask her.

"I was just getting you away from my stupid annoying brother." She says.

I sigh quietly; he's not annoying, or stupid. He's hot and sort of amazing and… "You think he's annoying too, right?" She asks.

"Sure." I say.

"Good, because one of my friends used to have a crush on him when he came up another summer, and it was so annoying. I hate when my friends like my brother, it's totally against girl code." She says, in a pissed off tone of voice, "Girl code?" I ask.

She nods, "Yes. Now we need to go, so get dressed." She says and shoos me to get my clothes.

I can't help thinking about what she said while I was getting dressed, about girl code, and how angry it makes her when her friends like her brother. I don't understand that, at all really. But oh well, it's not like I have to worry about that.

When we're both ready, we head downstairs to leave, but Austin blocks the door, "Need a ride?" He asks. He smiles at me and winks; why does he keep doing that? "No thank you." Dakota says and walks out the door.

I stop next to him, "Thanks though." I tell him.

When I'm walking out he grabs my arm lightly, "We should hang out sometime." He says with his million dollar smile, and I can't help but feel a shiver run through me, why, I don't know, "Ally hurry!" Dakota yells. I smile at him apologetically and run out side.

[]

The morning goes by fast, and I managed to not hurt myself and I'm proud of that, I mean that's two whole mornings of clumsy-free Ally. But that might also be because I haven't picked up a tennis racket again.

We wait yet again for the parents to come get them and then we head back to Dakota's. I'm spending two weeks here, since my dad's on a business trip for the store he owns, Sonic Boom, it's a music store and he usually makes me run it, but he figured since I'm doing the summer program and it is _summer_ he'd just close the shop up. He's gone for so long because it's this big convention, and he just won't miss it for the world.

When we get back to the house, she tells me she's going to take a nap and that I can fend for myself. So I go downstairs to get a drink. I open the fridge and it's full of soda, juice, tea, everything. I lean in and stare at them all, trying to decide what I want, and the cool air from the fridge feels amazing, the Moon's do not have air conditioning, or a pool

I pick up a can of lemonade when, "Cooling yourself off," Says a voice behind me. It startles me and I drop the lemonade, causing it to burst open and fly all over my feet. I hold in a scream and I hear laughing. I turn around and it was Austin, he's sitting on the counter that is just a couple feet behind me…

"Sorry, Dawson." He says, but there is still laughter in his voice.

I shake my head at him, but a smile creeps upon my lips, I don't think I can get mad at him.

I walk over to the paper towels and grab a bunch. I walk back over and start cleaning up the lemonade, "You could help you know, it is your fault." I tell him, "Is not!" He says in a whiny two year old voice.

"And I'm the child." I say. He grabbed some towels and is kneeling down next to me to help, but he stops moving and looks at me.

"What do you mean?" He asks.

"You told Dakota she was just a child, because she's sixteen, well so am I." I say.

"Oh, I just said that, because well, I mean Dakota's my kid sister. It's different with you. You aren't a kid to me." He says seriously, looking at my face, in my eyes.

"Then what am I?" I ask him.

He shrugs, "Your Ally." He says with an innocent smile. He's so cute, it really should be illegal, I'm serious on this.

"Oh, is that so?" I ask him.

He nods, "Yes. Yes you are." He says.

"Well thank you for telling me." I say sarcastically with a smile.

He laughs and picks up the towel and throws them away, and then he helps me stand up from my crouching position. I throw away the bottle and then lean against the counter, watching Austin open the fridge and grabbing two more cans of lemonade.

He hands me one and I carefully opening, sipping its cold substance, I've been even thirstier since it dropped all over my feet. For a few minutes, we both stand there in silence drinking. Austin's cell phone rings and he answers, "Hello?" he says.

Suddenly his face lights up, "Hey babe!" he says happily into the phone, "When are you coming? That's awesome!" he says, and with that, I walk out of the room.

I sit down on the recliner and turn on the T.V, each move of mine has anger behind it, and I find myself throwing the remote at the couch when I found something to watch. Why am I so pissed off? I don't know why, I have no reason to be. He has a girlfriend, it's all good, and it's _chill_.

A few minutes later Austin walks into the room and sits down on the couch. I don't say anything to him; I only focus on the T.V. I'm watching some odd music video, and I really am not paying attention to it even though I'm staring at it.

Austin clears his throat, maybe trying to get my attention, but I ignore it. After a few minutes, he speaks up, "So." He says.

I turn my head to him, "Yes?" I ask, "I don't know, you're not talking." He says.

I shrug, "What's your point?" I ask.

"Well, I remember when we were little, I couldn't get you to shut up, but now, you don't say much." He says.

"Well, I grew up." I say.

"Isn't that the truth." He says, and I give him an odd look.

"So, was that your girlfriend on the phone?" I ask, it just sort of slipped out, and I kind of regret asking it.

His face turns into a smile, a cocky, evil looking smile, "Why do you care?" He asks.

"I don't. I was curious." I say.

"Fine, I won't question you. Yeah, it's my girlfriend. I met her at school last year and we've been dating since. She's coming to stay with us for two weeks." He says.

I can't help cringing and a really strange feeling boils up inside me, "Cool." I say harshly and get up and walk out of the room; like I want to see those two all over each other around here for two weeks, while I have to stay here too, gross.

I walk upstairs to Dakota's room and she's just waking up, "What's up?" She asks.

"Austin's girlfriends staying here for the next two weeks, did you hear about that?" I ask her.

She does a gagging gesture, "Gross." She says.

"That's what I thought." I reply.

"Let's go to the pool." She suggests.

I don't really want to, but I want to get out of the house, "Okay, I'll grab my bathing suit." I tell her.

When I finish getting ready, I follow her downstairs and she tells Austin where we're going, and I'm kind of glad she isn't close to Austin like when they were kids, because she most likely would have invited him to go with us. But he's probably going to be waiting around all day for his girlfriend.

I want to know why this bothers me so much, I know I don't like him; he's an idiot in my opinion. I wonder how many times he's cheated on her or something, or how many other girls he tells that they aren't a little kid anymore, and that it's different, and then answer his phone call from his girlfriend…

"Are you going to get in?" Dakota say's interrupting my day dream, well more of a thought. I sigh as I see she's in the pool already; I take off my cover dress and jump in. I stay down in the deep spot, holding my breath, looking threw the crystal clear water. I can't help to think how clear the water is, unlike my mind.


	3. Chapter 3

**I know i said i might not be updating fast, but i keep getting the itch to write this story and i love writing it so here's another chapter. And i can't help but share my excitement. Last night, Laura tweeted and answered a question of mine, and i was beyond excited because no one famous has ever done that for me.**

**Anyways, enjoy. Review, PM me, anything.**

The next morning, tennis is starting to really get on my nerves. It was okay the first day, the second day it was bearable, but by the third day, it was just extremely damn annoying. I swear all of these kids decided to have a contest on who could annoy the shit out of Ally the most. Like this one little brunette girl, with chubby cheeks and an obsession with the color pink, would not take her turn playing because we didn't have pink tennis balls, I mean seriously? Did she see a tennis ball color option on the signup sheet? That's what I thought.

And then this little ginger boy, he was afraid of the tennis racket, and is making me play for him, which means I have to actually _play_ tennis. I go to the other side of the court, and all the kids decide to drag out the tennis ball shooter, I don't actually know what it's called. But anyways, Dakota went and took a phone call and a bathroom break and left me alone with these insane kids.

The pink obsessed girl finds the power switch on the machine and before I can react, there is tennis balls flying at me like there is no tomorrow. I dodge a few of them, and I even manage to hit some with the racket, because I mean that's what is supposed to go down in tennis, right? But when they turn the speed up, and there's about 12 balls coming at me at once, I lose my stamina.

The first ball hits me in the stomach, and that sort of hurts, which causes me to lose my focus and put all my attention on the pain in my stomach, and that's when I get nailed in the head by a bunch of them at once causing me to fall backwards on the ground. I can hear the laughter and snickers from the little brats who I'd like to call a very bad name that they'd repeat to their parents later but that's when Dakota comes out, a little late, but that doesn't exactly shock me.

"Wow, what happened?" She asks.

I stand up, already light headed, and walk over to the other side, and the look on my face must not be pleasant because the little kids are backing away when I walk over, like I may just kill them.

"I'm going back to your house, okay?" I tell Dakota. She nods and turns off the machine

"Whoever is responsible for this is not getting a snack today, and your parents are being told." She says firmly. I hear the wines from satan's children as I walk away, and I can't help but smirk.

When I got to the Moon's house, I can hear Mimi yelling from the kitchen, "I thought you were single and now you just expect me to be okay with you having some girl come and stay with us for two weeks." She yells.

I hear Austin's voice, "I'm sorry, I'm used to being on my own so I just didn't think to ask. But she's going to be here any minute, so it's a little late to take action." He says.

She sighs, "Great." She says.

I walk into the living room and sit, my head is pounding and I feel odd. Austin walks into the room and his face turns from blank to, I don't know, I'd say horror but not that bad, "What the hell happened?" He asks, walking over to me and kneeling next to my chair.

"What?" I ask him.

"You have a huge black and blue mark near your temple, and your really pale." He says, staring at my face.

"I got attack by tennis balls, going at a high speed." I say, and I expect him to laugh, but his face is really full of what looks like, worry.

"We need to get you to the doctor, now." He says.

I shake my head, and it makes me feel dizzy, "Calm down Austin, I'm fine." I say.

"Okay, stand up then." He says and stands up.

"Fine." I say, and i stand up, but I get so dizzy, I lose balance, but Austin catches me in his arms, my chest against his, "You're not fine." He says.

And before I can protest, he lifts me up and he's holding me, like a guy is supposed to carry his wife into their house on their wedding night and he carries me to his car, and drives me to the hospital.

I suddenly feel very sleepy, the ride feels so soothing, "Ally, do not fall asleep, do you hear me?" Austin yells, and it seems like he's far away, "Yeah, sure thing." I mumble.

"Ally, I mean it." He says.

I turn to him, "Why do you care?" I ask, and that's when I can't stop from falling asleep.

When I wake up, I'm seated in what looks like a hospital room; the doctor is shining a flashlight in my eyes, "Ally?" He asks. I blink a few dozen times and I finally focus, "Yeah?" I ask.

Austin is right in front of me now, appearing out of nowhere as soon as I said something, "Is she going to be okay?" His expression the same, worry, fear?

"She has a pretty bad concussion. She needs rest, and she can't use any electronics or watch T.V for a couple days. Your boyfriend's lucky he got you here when he did." The doctor says, with a smile on her face.

"He's not"- "She's my sister's friend, I just happen to be home at the time." Austin interrupts me.

"Well, he really saved things from going really bad." The doctor said.

On the way home, Austin keeps looking at me. I'm squinting from the bright sun light, it hurts my eyes, and head, "Uh, thanks for everything." I tell him.

He shrugs, "No biggie." He says.

He was so sweet for doing what he did, and I can't help but think he might care, I mean, doesn't he? Or was it really just because he happen to be there? He probably doesn't care about me as more than anything but his sister's friend.

When we pull in, I suddenly remember his girlfriend was arriving, and that she might even be here by now, and I can't help but smile a little at the thought of him being late to greet her, because of me.

"Isn't your girlfriend arriving any time?" I ask him.

His eyes bulge out of his head, and he stops the car before almost hitting their house, "Shit, I forgot about Karen." He says.

I try to hide the laughter, because he forgot about his own girlfriend, because of me, and I'd be happy about that, if he actually liked me… But yet, I don't like him, so it doesn't matter. I'm about to get out, but he stops me, "No, I'll help you." He says.

He gets out and goes to my side, opening the door for me, and he grabs my hand and helps me up. He walks beside me, extremely close, as if I'm going to fall over or die at any moment. He opens the door for me and when we walk in, his mother and the girl I assume is Karen, are sitting on the couch.

Mimi get's up and runs over to me, "Are you okay sweetie?" she asks.

Karen's already giving me a snotty look, "Yes Mimi, just a concussion." I say, and then when I can still feel Karen's stare burning into my soul, I can't help but add, "The doctor said Austin really saved me." I say with a big smile and turn to Austin, "Thanks, life saver." I say, and wink. His mouth drops open at my change of mood and I try not to laugh, "My son, the hero." Mimi gushes.

"It wasn't a big deal." Austin says, brushing his hair back with his hand.

Karen gets up and walks over to us, "You're late. You weren't even here to greet me!" She whines, and I already hate her.

She's skinny, like too skinny, and has long blonde hair, and very blue eyes, complete opposite from me, well except for the skinny part. I'm very tiny, and short, but she's tall, not too much shorter than Austin, which I find weird.

"I had an emergency?" He says, looking at me like, duh we just talked about this two minutes ago. I almost wonder why he'd date someone like her, but she's probably good in bed or something.

"Yeah, well come show me to my room." She says.

I sigh and go to the kitchen, followed by Mimi. I grab water out of the fridge and sit at the counter, holding my head. Mimi starts cleaning off the counter, then she looks around, making sure no one is around to hear, "I don't like that girl. I had to listen to her talk about the dumbest things for the past hour." Mimi says, and I can't help laughing.

"She doesn't look too intelligent, and she looks weird next to Austin." I say.

Mimi nods, "I agree." She says, and then sighs, "It's a shame, I figured he'd go after some one more his type, or even you." She says, and I start choking on my water. She walks over to me and pats me on my back, "Are you okay dear?" She asks.

"Oh I'm fine." I say, shaking my head.

"Anyway, I have to go to the store, do you need anything?" She asks.

"No, I'm good. I'm going to go upstairs until Dakota gets home." I say. Mimi nods, and with that I walk up stairs.

I walk past the guest bedroom that Karen's staying in, and they're sitting on the bed, making out. I hold in my vomit and walk by, but they break apart when Austin see's me, but I just keep going. I go in and lay down on my bed, staring at the ceiling. I can't help my anger building in me again, that weird sensation caused by the unknown.

I'm just about to drift to sleep when there's a knock on the opened door, I turn my head and it's Austin. He smiles and walks in casually, "How are you?" He asks.

I want to ask him why he should care, or why he isn't just making out with his stupid blonde skinny girlfriend, "Oh, fine." I say.

"That's good." He says, and then there is silence. He shoves his hands in his pockets and rocks back and forth on his feet, "I'm really glad your okay Ally." He says, and walks out of the room.

I watch him leave, and I'm more confused than ever, but I don't know if I should even be confused. He's glad I'm okay, and he obviously cares, but now he's probably making out with Karen, so that should be my assurance that he has no feelings for me, and yet, it still bothers me, but I don't know why.


	4. Chapter 4

**Everyone else pumped for the heard it on the radio video tonight? I know i am.**

When Dakota came back, I was sleeping, but when I woke up later, to find her staring at me I might add, she knew all about my little hospital visit with Austin, and I think it's most likely because of Mimi, because I doubt Austin told her all about it, and I'm sure Karen wouldn't have wanted to hear it. It seems like she doesn't even like me already, and that's okay, because I know I don't like her.

"So, my brother did that for you? Wow. If it was me, he would have let me die." She says seriously.

I laugh, "Yeah um, I doubt that." I say, while doodling on a random piece of paper at her desk, while she was stretched out across her bed, looking at a magazine.

"I don't." She says.

Before she could give me any false hope, not that It'd be hope, because I don't care… I can't help but ask, "Did you meet precious Karen?" I ask her.

She rolls her eyes and makes a disgusted face, "Unfortunately. She's so, plain, boring, dumb, and yeah." She says, and I smile big, happy every one doesn't like her.

"So, since you can't do anything really, I'll take it you can't help out at the last day of tennis tomorrow?" Dakota says.

I nod, and try to hide my happiness, "No, sorry." I say.

She rolls her eyes, "No you're not, but okay." She says and we both laugh.

Dinner was the most awkward thing I've ever experienced. Dakota and I sat across from Austin and Karen, and Mimi and Mike sat at each ends of the table. Austin acted really strange, he didn't say much, which is odd for him, and he barely looked me, _or _Karen.

She didn't say much either, and when she did, she left us all speechless because of how stupid it was. Mimi and Mike talked to each other about their day and Dakota texted most of the time. When there is a long awkward silence, Mike interrupts it by talking to me, "Ally, how is your head feeling?" He asks.

Austin looks at me then, interested in what I have to say, which is odd, "Not too bad. It hurts a little and bright lights bother me a lot." I say.

Austin goes back to focus on his food, "Well that's not too bad to hear." Mike says. I nod at him and poke at my pork chop. Karen ate like two bites of her food and that's it. Sure I have barely eaten either, but I would if I wasn't sick to my stomach because of the concussion, or is it because I'm around Austin and his stupid girlfriend?

By the time dinner is finally over, and Dakota helps with the dishes and I go upstairs and wait, it's almost time for bed. I wait for Dakota to shower and change so I can after. When she's done, I grab some towels from the closet in the hall and head for the bathroom, but Karen beat me to it, "Oh are those for me?" She asks, grabbing for the towels, "Uh, no. But since you're here already I guess you can have them." I say and I hand them to her, "Thanks doll." She says and shuts the door. Why do I have this bad feeling that she is one of the types of girls that takes too long of showers? I sigh and walk towards the stairs, when I look into Austin's room in the corner of my eye, and he's playing his acoustic guitar, when I'm almost out of sight I hear him say, "Ally," quietly. I take a few steps backwards and stick my head in, and he motions for me to come in.

"Yes Austin?" I ask him.

"Do you like Karen?" He asks me, and I am completely taken aback at his question. For a few moments, I don't say anything. And then, I finally say, "Why does it matter?" in a nice sounding tone.

He shrugs, "I don't know, I really liked her when I was away at school, but it just feels different now." He says.

"Well, you're sort of stuck with her for two weeks." I tell him.

He sighs, "I know, I'll probably get over this funk. It's just, I can't focus on her." He says.

I sit down next to him on his bed, "What do you mean?" I ask.

He takes his guitar off of him and sets it down next to him, leaning it on his bed. He turns his body so he's facing me now. He has a baggy v-neck shirt on, it's white, with grey sweatpants, and I can't help but think that he is extremely cute, even in lazy, pajama clothes.

"I just, feel like I've lost interest in her, I think I'm starting to having feelings for" – but he's interrupted by Karen walking in, she looks at me, and then him, and her eye brows go up in question, "Did I interrupt something?" She asks.

I stand up, "Nope, just having a small chat, see you." I say, looking at Austin. I can tell in his face he's upset, because I wanted to say something to me, but I can't stick around any longer. I go straight into the bathroom. I lean on the counter and look at myself in the mirror, wondering what Austin was about to say. I also think of how much I hate Karen for walking in.

I take a long, hot shower, it seems to soothe my head, and when I walk out, I realize I didn't grab any towels, or _anything_. I start to panic, and I don't know what I should do. My soaking wet hair drips all over the place and I ring it out in the sink. I open the bathroom door a crack, and the hallway lights are off, so I everyone should be asleep.

I take a deep breath and dart for my room, but Mimi and Mike's room to their door start opening, and I stop, freaked out when I hear a cough from Mike Moon, which means my best friend's father was about to see my naked, how extremely terrible is that?

Before anyone can react, and before Mike even notices me, I'm being pulled into Austin's room, and an article of clothing is thrown at me. I realize it's a shirt of his, so I quickly put it on and he turns on his light. I stand there, frozen, with my face turning red. Austin's staring at the floor.

"Don't worry, I didn't really see anything, it was dark. And I'm sorry if your creeped out by what I did but I figured you wouldn't want my father seeing you naked." He says.

I nod, "Thanks, you saved me, again." I say.

His face seems red too, and I can't help but think why. I'm sure he's seen plenty of naked girls in his life time.

I look down at my shirt, and it's defiantly one his and it barely goes past the middle of my thighs, so i make sure I don't move much, "It's nothing." He says.

"You really didn't see anything?" I ask him.

I see a small smile appear on his face, "Huh? Me? No." he says, avoiding eye contact.

"Then why can't you look me in the eyes?" I ask him.

He looks at me, right in the eyes, "Because, well I mean, it was dark, so I don't know what I saw." He assures me.

"Okay, that's fine with me, I don't know about Karen though." I say, and laugh.

His face turns an odd color and his sits down on his bed, and I suddenly remember the conversation about earlier. "I guess I'll go now." I say.

I'm about to open the door, when he's standing next to me suddenly, and he grabs my arm, "Do you have to?" I ask him.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"I don't know, I just like talking to you." He says.

"I don't think that's a good idea, I mean, I'm in your shirt, and naked, so if Karen comes in, I don't think this would look very good."

He nods, "You're right, sorry." He says, letting go of my arm and going to his bed, "Night Ally." He says.

"Night Austin." I say.

When I leave his room, I shut the door and lean against it. I can't help but remember just a moment ago, when his hand touched my arm, the odd, electric feeling I got. And how I didn't feel that embarrassed that he saw me like this; the chills, the odd feeling that went through my body. I think I wish I could feel his touch again. I shake my head, trying to get rid of those feelings, they can't happen.

I walk quietly into Dakota's room and grab my clothes. I stuff his shirt under my pillow and lay down on my bed, trying to forget everything that happened today, and trying to force myself to make believe that I haven't just fallen for Dakota's brother.


	5. Chapter 5

I slept in this morning, since I didn't have to help out with Tennis and Dakota wouldn't be here. I woke up a few hours before she was due to arrive home though, but I decided to lay in my bed a little longer after I woke up, not knowing what I had to face this morning, and today.

After last night with Austin, I don't know how he's going to treat me, and I just don't want to have to look at Karen. Even Austin isn't even into her anymore, apparently, so I don't get why he doesn't just break it off, she can go home early, right?

When I actually decide to get up, I go downstairs to make myself some breakfast. Austin and Karen are sitting on the couch watching T.V. I walk past them, without even acknowledging that I knew they were there. I got in the kitchen and decided to make some pancakes. When I'm almost done, Austin and Karen walk in.

Karen sits down at the table and Austin grabs them both glasses and orange juice. I continue to focus my attention on the pancakes. I flip one over and Karen starts talking to Austin, "What are we going to do today?" She asks.

"I don't know. I didn't have much planned." He says.

"But I'm here for vacation, aren't i?" She asks.

"I thought you were here to just spend time with me?" Austin asks. She takes a sip of her juice.

"Yeah, but I expected you to bring me a lot of places and stuff." She says.

I roll my eyes while cooking the last pancake. I hear Austin sigh and then there is silence, an awkward silence. It's so awkward I decide to just make more pancakes, and by the time I'm done, I've made enough to feed all three of us and I thought it might be rude If I don't offer some.

"Pancakes anyone?" I ask.

Austin's face lights up, and then Karen says, "Gross, I hate pancakes. Bring me somewhere." She says.

Austin's face automatically drops, and she leaves the room to go get dressed. I take two pancakes, load them up with butter and syrup and place them in front of Austin, "Eat fast, I'm sure it takes her 25 minutes to pick out an outfit." I say.

His face goes happy again, "Thanks Ally, you're awesome." He says, and then attacks his plate.

After I eat, I'm alone in the house because Karen got her away, and Mimi and Mike were working, and Dakota got asked to start another summer rec, which was a swimming class, so she wasn't going to be back until later.

I sat casually on the couch watching some T.V. I know, I wasn't supposed to be, but my head was feeling better. After a while though, my head started to hurt, so I stopped and went upstairs. I lay down on my bed and noticed something sticking out from under my pillow and I realize its Austin shirt. I can smell it already, Austin's scent all over It, he smells extremely good, and I deicide this is a temptation so I am going to put it back in his room. I get up and walk towards his room, opening the door slightly and slipping in. I lay the shirt down over his chair and start to walk out, when he walks in, "Ally?" He says.

Okay, this guy has terrible and amazing timing all at once, I swear.

"Hi." I say. I wait for Karen to appear behind him but that doesn't come, "What are you doing in my room?" He asks coolly.

"I was giving you your shirt back." I say, pointing to it.

He nods, "Well thanks, you could have kept it." He says with a smile.

I smile back, really tempted to, but I don't. I just stand there, waiting for him to say something but he doesn't, "Where's Karen?" I ask him.

"Oh, napping I guess." He says.

"I see. How was whatever you did?" I ask.

He shrugs, and sits down on his bed, leaning against the wall on the side, "Boring. We went _shopping_." He says in an annoyed voice.

"That's terrible." I say, and he studies my face.

"Are you being sarcastic?" He asks.

I shake my head, "No, I don't really like shopping." I say.

He smiles, "That's good." He says.

I eye his guitar, "You play huh?" I ask.

He nods, "Yeah and I like to sing." He says.

"So do I, just not in front of large crowds of people. I write my own songs sometimes." I say. His face lights up then, "Seriously?" He asks.

"Yes." I say.

"Will you sing for me sometime?" He asks, his eyes turning into desperation.

"Did I say I don't sing in front of large crowds? I meant I don't sing in front of anyone; bad stage fright." I assure him.

He sighs, "That's too bad. I'd love to hear you." He says. He notices my awkward stance, "You shouldn't just be standing there, you could get light headed from your concussion or something." He says and pats the bed next to him.

I sit down, and thoughts of last night run through me, but I shake it off, "So, do you know what you're going to do about Karen? You really don't seem happy with her." I say hesitantly.

"I don't really know what I can do. She likes me, a lot and I don't want to hurt her." He says. So he cares about her feelings, is he really not a player then?

"That's tough." I say.

"That's for sure." He says, playing with a loose string on his pants.

"I'm here for you." I say, and put my hand on his shoulder, why I am doing this, I don't know. It's like all thoughts against Austin disappear when I'm with him.

He smiles, "Thank you Ally." He says. And then puts his hand over mine.

"You know, I meant it earlier, you are awesome." He says. I smile back not being able to control it. He takes his hand away, and then I do too. We sit there together in silence for a while. Until I hear the door opening downstairs, that must be Dakota.

"I should go." I tell him. He nods and I leave his room and go into Dakota's. I down at her desk and start doodling on the same piece of paper from yesterday. She walks in and lays down on the floor, not even bothering to take the extra steps to her bed.

"I am so tired." She says. I watch her lie still, arms and legs stretched out, "A lot of swimming?" I ask her.

She shakes her head yes, and that causes her to rub her face against her carpet. It's actually funny, Dakota is one of the laziest people I have ever known, but she's always stayed so skinny. I don't know how she does it.

"Oh, I ran into James Conway at the pool, he invited me to this awesome party tomorrow night, and I got you invited too." She says into the carpet.

"I'll pass." I tell her.

She lifts her head up, only her head and looks at me, "What? I got you invited to a senior boy's party and you're declining?" She asks. I nod, "Yeah sorry. I don't think my head could take all the noise anyway." I say.

"Can I still go?" She asks but puts her face back into the floor, "Of course, I don't mind." I tell her.

"Yeah, but the shitty thing is James' sister knows Karen, they have been friends since they were young, so her and Austin will probably end up going too. So you are going to have the house for yourself."

"Where will you parents be?" I ask her.

"My dad has a business trip in Maine, and my mom loves it there, so they are both going. They will be gone all weekend." She says.

"Okay." I say.

I don't actually mind having the house to myself tomorrow night; it will give me a break from everything, and everyone. I'll eat ice cream and watch movies on the couch, yeah that sounds good to me.

Seeing Tennis is over and Dakota has to help with swimming lessons again tomorrow, she asked if I could go with her, just to watch. I accept, figuring that would be better than staying home all day. Austin and Karen went out for dinner tonight, so it was just me and Dakota and her parents.

We just had some pizza, and then watched a movie together. It was some movie her parents wanted to watch so I wasn't too interested. Dakota went to bed early, like usual and I took a shower, making sure I didn't forget anything like towels or my clothing.

I went to bed before Austin even came home, I didn't seem him at all today, and it kind of, sucked. I can't help but worry that maybe he's changing his mind about Karen, and that he's going to stay with her, and that I won't have a chance… Did I really just say that?


	6. Chapter 6

At the pool, it wasn't as bad as I imagined. The kids were older, ages 10-12, so it wasn't annoying. I watched from the side and made sure that the kids Dakota didn't pay attention to were okay and not drowning. It went by pretty fast and before I knew it we were walking back to the house.

I hung out in Dakota's room with her as she tried picking out an outfit for the party. She could not decide if she wanted to look like herself, the usual laid back Dakota, or if she wanted to dress fancy, or like a slut, thankfully she chose sort of fancy but not really.

It pretty much made me laugh at how badly she wants to impress James. Yeah he's older, but does she really need to beg him for his attention? Austin's older, and he gives me unwanted attention usually. Austin and Karen were getting ready in their own rooms and I still haven't talked to Austin in a couple days. If he doesn't care, than I guess I don't too.

Dakota is actually ready to leave, so we both go downstairs. Karen is standing over Austin whose sitting on the couch staring at the T.V, she gives us a pissed off expression when we walk down, "Can I have a ride Dakota?" She asks nicely.

"Uh, I guess. What about Austin?" She asks.

"He's not going." She says, and stares at him evilly. I can't help the thought of how it's just going to be me and Austin home tonight…

"Um why?" Dakota asks.

"Don't want to." Austin says.

"Yeah you're a great boyfriend." Karen says and rolls her eyes, "We'll be back late, so I guess I'll see you in the morning." She says and kisses him on the lips, and doesn't stop for like too long and then smirks at me after.

"Good luck." I say to Dakota in a low voice.

"Gee thanks." She responds.

And with that, they leave the house. I stand there awkwardly and just sort of stare at the back of Austin's head, wondering why he's here and not going with Karen.

I turn around and go into the kitchen, maybe he thought I was going too and he wanted the house to himself. But as soon as I turn around from the fridge, he's leaning in the doorway, "What's for dinner?" he asks with a small smile.

"Whatever you feel like making." I tease back.

"Oh, is that how it's going to go down?" He asks.

I nod, "You know it."

"Well fine, ice cream sundaes it is." He says. He goes for the freezer and takes out the ice cream, even though I figured he was kidding but I guess not.

He grabs two huge bowls and starts scooping large scoops of chocolate ice cream into them. I just stand there and watch. Then he grabs the whipped cream, nuts and sprinkles and he covers the ice cream with it. When he's done, he slides the bowl over to me and hands me a spoon, I take it, still just staring at him blankly, and he gets a spoon for himself and then digs in, enjoying himself too much.

I start eating it and discover how good it is, and we both are done around the same time. I clean our bowls and Austin leaves, and goes upstairs. I find that odd, I thought maybe he would want to hang out but I guess not.

I walk upstairs and go towards Dakota's room, when he calls for me. I walk over to his doorway and he's lying on his bed, "You called?" I asked him.

He shifts nervously, "You want to watch a movie with me?" He asks.

"In here?" I ask him.

He nods, "Yeah I have the best surround sound in town." He says with a proud tone.

I laugh, "Sure I mean could I really refuse?" I say.

A smile goes across his face and he moves over making room for me on the bed. I sit down next to him awkwardly, our bodies almost touching since his bed is quite small. He plays the movie and we watch silently for a while, until half way through I start to feel really tired. I lay down next to him, trying to stay as far away as I could.

Eventually, I find myself drifting off to sleep. When I wake up, I'm facing him now, and my head is on his arm. My eyes go wide at the sudden closeness and I realize he's staring at me. I move over slowly, "I'm sorry." I say.

"No big deal. You're cute when you're sleeping." He says and his eyes go wide and his face turns red. That's when awkward silence comes.

"Ally." He finally says.

I turn onto my side and face him, and he does the same, "I…" He starts but is interrupted by the door opening, "What the hell?" Says someone.

Austin's face turns shocked and he sits up fast, I turn around and sit up too, it was Karen. A not so happy Karen, "What are you two doing?" She asks.

We both stand up awkwardly, "We watched a movie that's all." Austin says.

"You have another girl in your _bed_." Karen accuses.

"It's not like that…" Austin says.

"Yeah, sure." She says and walks out of the room.

Austin turns to me, "I guess I should go talk to her?" He sort of asks.

I look at him oddly, "I guess you should." I say and walk out of the room, disappointment filling me. I don't understand what he's doing, or how I feel or how he feels. Every time he pays attention to me, it's like something changes in him and then Karen comes along and it's weird.

I walk into Dakota's room and she's sitting on her bed, looking kind of angry, "What was that about?" She asks.

I sit down on the bed, "What?" I ask her.

"I heard Karen yelling and you weren't in here." She says.

"I was talking to Austin and she walked in and went all psycho girlfriend sort of thing." I say.

"What were you doing with Austin?" She asks.

"I just told you, just talking." I say.

"Right." She says suspiciously and I don't feel like fighting it.

The next morning Karen hasn't come out of her room nor has Austin. I have a sudden pang of sadness thinking they could be in the same room, but I'm pretty sure that that isn't true. Dakota was suspicious last night, but she didn't really think it through I suppose. I go downstairs and discover a note from her, and it says she is at James' house, which kind of makes me pissed. If I ever got a chance with Austin, I'd take it, because she thinks she can control my plans, but have her own? I don't think so. But it does not actually matter because I'd never have a chance with Austin, especially while Karen's here.

I got outside on the back deck and sit down on the steps. I can't stand all of the stillness in the house, and I can't stop really wondering what is going on between Austin and Karen since last night. I wonder what Karen said, or actually what it was that Austin has said.

I look to the yard and watch a bunch of little hummingbirds flying around the birdfeeder, they are so small it's so adorable, and they seem so peaceful, if only I was like that. Mimi has a beautiful yard, full of flowers and a garden towards the end. It's so full of life, the flowers blooming and butterflies and different birds everywhere.

"Ally?" My thoughts are interrupted by a voice, and it's not Austin's.

I turn my body towards the voice, and I see Karen. I am pretty shocked, and I try to hide it. She sits down at the spot next to me on the steps.

"Yeah?" I ask her. I almost expect her to start attacking me, you know cat fight and everything, or just start to start calling me names but her face is genuine.

"Can I talk to you? Like girl talk?" She asks me.

This surprises me a lot more than her taking a seat next to me because she wanted to. I don't really know how to answer it, but I just nod.

"You might wonder why I would want to talk to you, and not Dakota or something. But Dakota just doesn't seem like the type of girl to have talks like this with, and you were my first choice." She says with a crooked smile. How did I ever get so lucky? I think sarcastically.

"Yeah, she's my best friend and stuff but you can't really go to her for good advice." I tell her and I kind of feel mean for saying it but it's true. I can't talk to her about my mixed feelings for Austin because of the girl code.

She laughs lightly, "Yeah but I just wanted some advice about Austin." She says. I feel sick to my stomach at those words, and a pang of guilt, why? I don't actually know.

"Okay." I tell her and let her continue.

"Well you two seem to be close, and at first I was madly jealous, but he said you guys have known each other since you were small children so I guess I shouldn't let it bother me." She says, and I look down at my knees, and nod.

"Austin and I, we have been dating for almost a year, and I care about him a whole lot but ever since he came home we've been drifting apart, I just know it. But I don't know what to do. He just doesn't act like he actually cares anymore." She says, sadness coming over her.

I do not actually know what to say, since I know that he hasn't been the same, and he told me that he was thinking of her a different way. But I haven't known this side to Karen and I can't help but feel bad for her and I have the sudden urge to help her because that's sadly the type of person I am. Should I help, even though that'd wreck any of the slightest chances I have with Austin?

"I'm sorry. Maybe you should do something special for him, like plan something you two love to do together or used to do all the time that you haven't." I tell her.

Karen's face lights up fast, "We used to have picnics in the park all the time, with his favorite foods." She says.

"Try that. Let him know you still have the same feelings for him, and it will remind him of his for you, too." I tell her.

She smiles bigger, "Thanks Ally! You've really helped me, thank you for being nice to me, even though I've kind a acted like a witch." She says and hugs me tightly.

I hug her back slightly and she gets up and runs into the house. I can't shake the feeling in the back of my mind that says, you're helping Austin get closer to Karen. But, what else am I supposed to do.


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks to, two of my fans for some support and ambition, here is another chapter (; but my next update won't be for a couple days. enjoy. it's a long one.**

The next day, Dakota is gone again, with James. I start to remind myself how Dakota said this was our summer, but now that she has James, I'm out of the picture. Mike and Mimi came home a little while ago, but went to bed early because they were still tired and had to start work right away tomorrow.

Austin and Karen went out a couple hours ago and Karen winked at me as they went out the door so I imagine that meant she was doing what I told her she should.

I sighed and walked to the fridge and grabbed some ice cream and while I was scooping I was flooded with thoughts about Austin and I's ice cream for dinner the other night. I grab my bowl and sit down on the couch, trying to find something decent on the television when Austin and Karen walk in.

Karen prances happily inside and goes upstairs right away. Austin walks over to the couch and sits down next to me, sort of close, and slouches down.

"Hi." I say to him, and he turns his head to me.

"Hello." He sighs and turns his attention back to the silly show I have showing.

"What's the matter?" I ask him.

He just shrugs, and I turn the T.V off, causing him to pay only attention to me so he turns his head again.

"Why did you do that?" He asks.

"I can tell when there is stuff wrong, now do tell." I say.

"Well, it's just; Karen took me on a picnic today, with my favorite foods and stuff." He says.

I nod, "And your problem?" I ask.

"It's just, she's being so nice and I really care about her but it's just, I don't know." He says.

"Oh." I say,

Thought of Karen and I's talk flood my brain and I feel bad, "You should stay with her." I tell him.

"Should i?" He asks me.

"She will be devastated if you ever broke it off." I tell him.

"I know." He says and looks away.

I go to bed early that night, thinking long and hard about what Austin and I talked about. I know he'll stay with Karen, I can tell he really likes her.

I don't get out of bed in the morning, Dakota is gone, and I'm not hungry so there is no need to get out of this bed. I lie down pathetically, realizing how sad my life is. I move the covers over my face, and breathe in and out heavily.

I start to cry too, because I finally, am admitting to myself that, I like Austin, hell, I think I _love_ Austin. But there isn't anything I can do, we just were not meant to be, because Dakota wouldn't even approve of it either. There are just too many things stacked up against us, not that there is an 'us', because Austin' doesn't want me.

I start to cry harder and try to lower the sound by shoving the pillow over my face, when I hear someone walk in my room. I stop my hard squirms of breath taking cries and freeze.

"A-Ally?" it's his voice, Austin.

I stay as I am and I don't move or even make a noise, and that's when I feel the bed get lower on the end and that must mean he is sitting there.

"What's wrong, are you okay?" He says with true worry in his tone.

I shrug but I don't know if it's noticeable under these covers. He sighs and takes a minute before he starts, "Do you remember that one time when we were kids, you, Dakota and me, we all built this giant snowman, and your fingers got so cold, you almost got frostbite, but I cupped your hands in mine and blew on them until you got feeling back. I thought your hands were going to freeze to my lips." He says with a small giggle.

It's odd because I remember that day perfectly, it was the day I realized Austin's lips touching any part of me gave me an odd feeling, "I wanted to just stay like that, the way you looked at me, I couldn't get over it." He says.

I pull the covers off of my head but keep the side of my face securely against the bed. He's lying on Dakota's bed now, facing down at me.

"I remember." I say, and decide to get up because it was getting late. I get up and go out of the room, Austin behind me; he goes into his own room. I take a shower and go downstairs and grab some breakfast. I decide to go to the library all day and clear my head.

When I get home, it's only me and Mike and Mimi. Dakota is babysitting unexpectedly until very late, and Austin's somewhere with Karen. I try to pretend I don't care, and eat my lasagna. Mike and Mimi go to bed early and I stay up in the living room watching T.V. It's pouring outside and it's so late I'm starting to get worried about Austin, but then I hear the front door close. Austin and Karen walk in and Austin go upstairs right away, but Karen stays behind and sits next to me. I expect her to tell me about how their date went but instead, her face turns cold.

"Your little idea didn't work, and I almost think you set me up." She says.

I just look at her in shock, "What?" I ask.

"I have a feeling you really like Austin, and you just did this to me to get rid of me, but guess what _Dawson_, you aren't getting rid of me. If you do, you're in for it." She says, and with that she walks away.

Did she just _threaten _me, so much for her being nice? I sit back against the couch and sigh, this is worse than I thought. But I know for sure, that I am not helping her anymore.

I get up and go upstairs, and when I walk by Austin's room, I can hear Karen yelling at him, "Stay away from her." Is all I heard to know that she was talking about me.

I walk with my feet pounding on the ground in anger as I collapse on my bed, and sigh loudly. I know that he will listen to her; this is going to be it for our friendship. I did really try to help her; she's the one that ruined it. How dare she do this to me now.

When I wake up in the morning I go with Dakota to another summer program, its volleyball. Yeah, I know, what am I doing volunteering to help out with this? Well in my defense I am not in a very stable set of mind, since at breakfast Austin completely ignored me, and Karen just smiled at me, that evil bit-

Dakota makes me play on her team along with a few other kids we're teaching, and I am able to dodge getting hit in the head multiple times, because I won't have a hero like Austin around to save me again. When we're done, Dakota and I go to the beach and eat some curly fries. But James comes and meets up with her so I told her I would meet her back at the house.

When I get there, Mimi is standing near the sink drinking tea and I sit down at the counter. I stare at the white clean service and try not to show my obvious upset glow, but nothing gets by Mimi Moon, "What's the matter dear?" She asks me, clutching onto the cup.

I just shrug, and then she leans on the counter across from me, "You can tell me, anything, I won't tell anyone." She says, and I know that she won't.

"I just, I don't like Karen." I blurt out. A small smile creeps onto her lips, "And whys that?" She asks.

I think of telling her about Karen's threat, but I'm afraid that may make matters worse, "She just doesn't seem right for Austin." I say hesitantly.

"No, she really doesn't. Do you know who is right for him?" She asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Not really." I say, I grab an apple and jog off to the living room.

I sit down on the couch and watch T.V, and that's when Austin comes in with Karen, he acts like he wants to say something, but Karen pulls him out of the room. I moan quietly to myself, and have thoughts of stabbing Karen repeatedly.

Dakota comes home and sits next to me, "So, there's this huge picnic at the beach tomorrow, it's my family and a few other families we know, we get together every year, you in?" She asks.

I shrug, "Well I am your guests, so it's only fair that I accept." I say with a smile. She smiles back and runs into the kitchen.

The next morning comes fast; I actually slept okay, except for the occasion nightmare of Karen killing me. I get dressed in a red and blue flowered dress and I curly my hair, I even let Dakota put some makeup on me. When we go downstairs to leave, Austin and Karen are waiting too, but when Austin see's me, his mouth drops and I can't help wondering if Dakota made me look like a complete idiot, or he just thinks I look good. Karen notices his face change and turns to him and whispers something at him, which takes his attention off of me.

Mike and Mimi grab a few things and we all leave for the beach. When we get there it's really beautiful, it really is a huge picnic, and everyone seems nice already. They introduce me to a bunch of their friends and they happily accept me.

After we all eat, a few kids are getting together to play football on the sand, apparently it's really fun. After Dakota begs me to play about twenty minutes, I remind her of my concussion not too long ago, so she finally gives up. I stand awkwardly next to a girl named Rachel, she doesn't say too much, only that she is terrible at sports.

Karen plays, along with Austin. She goes and tackles Austin, which makes me sick, so I turn my head. And a few minutes later, a football comes at me, _fast_, and it hits me right in the face, and I hear a bunch of commotion. I sort of lean forward in pain and grab my nose, and before I know it, there's something red all over my hands, and from Rachel's horrified reaction, it must be blood.

I hold my nose tighter and try to stop it. Austin comes running over to me, and Karen's following, "Don't help her." She yells. He turns to her, and it makes her stop right there, shocked, "You did this to her, on _purpose_. How dare you." He yells right in her face.

He comes over to me and grabs my shoulders and moves me towards a building near the boardwalk. He holds my hand over my nose, applying pressure, it hurts, but there's a little less blood gushing out now. He opens the door and we're in a bathroom. He grabs a bunch of paper towels and replaces my hands with them. We just stand there like that in silence for a few minutes, until the blood is coming out less. He replaces my bloody paper towels with a new one and I press it against my nose.

"Austin, you don't have to do this…" I tell him.

He shakes his head at me and starts wiping the blood off of my chin, "Yes, I do. Karen did this, and it's my fault." He says.

"How is it your fault?" I ask him. But he doesn't answer. He takes another wet towel and rubs the blood off of my neck gently. I shiver, but I don't think it's from the cold water, it's from the way he's being so gentle.

The blood finally stops gushing from my nose and I wash off my face, but my nose is becoming a very noticeable purple color, "I don't think it's broken, just bruised. It's going to hurt a lot for a few days, especially today." Austin tells me.

"Yeah, it hurts pretty badly now." I tell him.

He shakes his head, angrily, "I bet." He says, and he seems to be getting red with anger.

"Karen hates me." I tell him.

He looks at me, "Didn't notice." He says sarcastically.

I figure this is the best time to say it, "She threatened me, you know. I helped her out with the picnic idea to win you back, and then she blamed me for it not working, and told me to stay away from you."

His face turns from shocked, to normal in a split second, "I guess I can't say that surprises me. She's been nagging me about being around you these past couple of days. But I can't believe she stooped this low." He says.

I nod, and he wipes off one last stain of blood on my face, "You ready to go back out there?" He asks.

I nod again, "Are you?" I ask him.

"Oh, yes." He says.

We walk out together, and he stays close to me. Karen runs over automatically, giving me an evil look, "Why were you two doing?" She asks.

"I was cleaning up the blood that you caused." He says, turning angry again.

"Oh please, it wasn't my fault." She says.

"How stupid do you think I am? I saw you throw it on purpose, Ally wasn't even playing." He says.

"Why are you sticking up for her? I'm your girlfriend." She says.

"No, you're not my girlfriend anymore." He says.

I just look at him when he says that, and Karen's face drops, "But we've been together almost a year." She says.

"Yeah, and I've loved Ally for seven." He says, and with that, _my_ face drops.


	8. Chapter 8

**I am so sorry for the long wait. I have been super busy and i have had writer's block and 7 hour a day cheer camp. here you go.**

Did he… Did I, did I just hear right? I stand there, looking dumbfounded, mouth hanging open, while Karen's face turns from mad, to sad, to rage in all of two second, "You _what_?" Karen says through clenched teeth.

I thought Austin's face would drop too, meaning he didn't mean to say that, but his face never looked so sure. He isn't looking at me though; maybe he's afraid of my reaction. "Well, if you can love that, _thing_, we're over!" Karen yells.

"In case you didn't hear me a few minutes ago, I broke up with you." He tells her.

Her mouth falls open for a second and closes right away into a pissy, ugly, look, "Whatever, I'm going to get me stuff and then I'm gone." She says, and walks away but after a few steps she turns, I think hoping Austin was following her, but he's still standing next to me. She does a loud 'Humph' and continues walking.

I still stand there, shocked and Austin looks at me, but not in the face, past me, "Uh, so you haven't said anything…" He says.

Before I can say anything, Dakota comes running over, "Ally are you okay?" She asks.

"Yeah, just in a slight amount of pain." I lie.

"Right, that bruise looks terrible." She says, causing me to cover it up with my hand, being kind of embarrassed, "Where did Karen storm off too? I'm going to kill her." She says.

"No need to worry about that, Austin handled her." I say.

"You mean…?" She asks with a small smile appearing on her face.

"He broke up with her." I say.

She does a happy dance jumping up and down, "That's the best news I've heard all day." She says.

Austin laughs, and I keep my nose covered, "It's time for dessert, so come on you two." Dakota says.

I sigh, because I don't actually want anything for dessert, I want to talk to Austin. He smiles at me slightly; sharing the same pain I am, about not being able to talk of course, not the whole nose thing.

We all sit down and eat a bunch of different desserts, Austin is across from me and I keep noticing that he is looking at me. When dessert is over, we all help clean up, but small movements hurt my nose and I keep stopping and holding it. When I'm putting away food in containers, Austin comes over with a bag that's filled with ice, "Put this on it, it will feel better after." He says.

"Thank you." I say and take the ice and put it lightly on my nose, it's really cold but I am starting to feel better already. Austin then starts helping me put food away, and it goes by a lot quicker. When we get home, I walk upstairs to my room with Dakota and Austin is just behind us, when Karen is leaning in the doorway of the guest room.

"What are you doing here still, you little freak." Dakota says.

I try to hold back a chuckle, "I can't leave till the morning so you're stuck with me." She says in an annoying sarcastic voice.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out in the morning." Dakota says and goes into her room. Austin and I stand there awkwardly at the top of the stairs, "What are you looking at, bruise face?" Karen asks me, and Austin's about to say something, but I hold up my hand to stop him, I'm sick of holding in what I have to say, it's time to stick up for myself.

"Okay, listen up Barbie; this isn't your house, so you don't have to right to walk around here like you own the place. Austin dumped you, and you deserved it, so it's time to move on. The only bruise around here is probably on your heart." I say and go into Dakota's room for clothes and I go into the bathroom to shower.

Austin walked into his room after I said that, laughing. Karen's mouth dropped and she went back in her room and slammed the door.

When I walked out of the bathroom after my shower, fully clothed in my light pink pajamas, I might add, Austin was leaning on the wall next to the door. I jump back, surprised at his presence, "Hi." I say to him.

"Hello beautiful." He says with a smile.

I smile back at him, a tint of red appearing on my cheeks. Austin balances on both feet now and the air seems to get, awkward. He shoves his hands in his pockets and looks down at me with soothing eyes.

"So…" He says.

I know that he is waiting for me to say something-react even- to what he said earlier. But I just can't find the words, or actually I can't think of the perfect words I want to say. I rehearsed them a thousand times but now that I'm here face to face with him, they're gone.

"Uh." I say lowly.

"Huh, I can remember when you'd never stop talking and look at you." He says with a teasing smile.

"Well, I just-I don't." I start, and he waits patiently.

"Dakota wouldn't approve of us." I blurt out.

His face turns to disappointment, because I know that he didn't think I would say that. I do know what he was thinking of, me saying I love him back, but what about Dakota? And what about how everyone around us takes this, if we were together, I wouldn't be able to spend the night anymore, and my dad would probably freak out to know that I was dating an 18 year old, I know he would never let me over here.

I study his face and wait for a response, "Why does that matter?" He asks.

"Because, we're best friends, and I promised her I'd never be like her other friends, having crushes on her brother and," – he interrupts me, "A lot of her friends have crushes one me?" He asks with a smile. I give him a dirty look and he shrugs, "_Anyway_, and my father would never let me spend the night here with her again, and your 18 and it's just a bunch of stuff." I say.

"Who cares what they think." He says.

I sigh, "You're making this hard." I tell him.

"So you don't love me then?" He asks.

"Why would you ask that?" I ask him.

"Because I want this, and I'd risk a lot of things, but you won't." He says, his face falling.

"I do, I want to, I just, I can't." I tell him.

He shakes his head, "Ok." He says and before I can say anything he turns around and goes into his room, slamming the door behind him. I stand in the hallway, staring at his shut door. What did I just do?


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning, breakfast is terrible. The moon's and I all eat together outside on the deck, and I'm seated right across from Austin, who hasn't said a word since Karen's loud, and obnoxious departure this morning. Let's just say, a lot of things were thrown at him, and he surprisingly dodged them all.

Austin doesn't take his eyes off of his pancakes, which he's surprisingly not shoving down his throat; he's taking breaks between small bites. It's all quite for a while, Dakota looking from me and Austin, obviously noticing something weird, since I asked him to pass the syrup and he practically broke the table with the way he slammed it down near me. Mr. and Mrs. Moon have been sharing glances at each other since.

After another couple long minutes, Mr. Moon speaks up, "So." He says, and everyone's attention turns to him, happy that he is deciding to break the silence.

"What's everyone's agenda for today?" He asks. It's Sunday, so him and Mimi have the day off.

"I'm going to James' house." Dakota says, and I give her a dirty look, great, another day at my best friend's house, without my best friend.

"Austin?" Mimi asks.

He shrugs, "Nothing." He says in monotone.

"Well we're going to go shopping, to the big mall that's a couple hours away, so we won't be back till late." Mike says.

"Ally, dear?" Mimi asks.

"Nothing, also." I say. How ironic.

I catch Austin stiffen at my words, which means he's thinking the same thing I am. We're going to be alone all day, after everything that happened last night.

After we all break apart from breakfast I go upstairs to Dakota's room while she gets ready for the day. I lie down on my bed and stare up at the ceiling. What am I supposed to do with Austin here all day, "So, just you and Austin all day, huh?" Dakota says while applying eyeliner.

"So?" I ask her.

"I don't know, you two seem to be acting strange." She says.

"I don't know what you're talking about, and it's not like we haven't been here alone before. I mean you're always with James these days." I tell her.

"Hey, I really like him, you should be happy for me." She says.

I want to say, well you should be happy for me, I love your brother and he loves me, but I pushed him away for _you_.

I roll my eyes at the ceiling and don't respond to her. After a while she's ready and gone. I lie in the same position for quite a while. I know everyone's gone, except Austin. I hear the front door open and shut suddenly, and I assume Austin must have left, until I hear two voices. Someone's here, and I feel my heart stop when I think Austin could be having some new girl over or something but I am soon relieved when I hear a guys voice.

I decide to walk downstairs to get a glass of water; well that's my excuse anyway. I tip toe downstairs and am taken aback when I see Austin and some guy I've never seen before sitting in the kitchen. I figured they'd be in the living room or something and I'd be able to spy in here without being seen, but here I am, like a deer in headlights.

The guy is tall, with red hair, sort of goofy looking, seeing his outfit is extremely goofy. He seems me and his eyes light up and he turns to Austin, "Who the hell is that?" He asks.

I give him an odd look and walk to the fridge, and grab the pitcher of water and set it on the counter. I pretend they're not here until I hear Austin say, "Just some girl. My little sister's best friend." He says, and I don't know why, but that hurts.

I turn to Austin, and my mouth drops a little and I shake my head. Setting the pitcher down without even filling up my cup, I leave it all there and walk out of the room.

I get it, he has the right to be angry with me, but this is just too much. I can't wait for this week to be over, and then I can just go home. I go in the living room and sit down on the couch and stare at the T.V, which is off I might add.

The guy with Austin walks into the room and sits down next to me, and stares me at intently while I stare at the T.V. After a moment of totally weirdness, he says, "Why are you staring at the T.V? Do you know it's off?" He asks.

I turn to him, "It's better than being around Austin." I tell him.

"I'm Dez." He says and sticks out his hand. I hesitate but shake it, "I'm Ally." I tell him.

He looks at the T.V now and stares at it. After a few moments, he says, "I don't see how this is better than being around Austin." And with that he gets up and walks out of the room.

Now he is one strange person, I think to myself. I get up and go upstairs into Dakota's room. I decide that this is the safest place for me to stay all day, and that's what I do. I can hear Austin and Dez playing video games in Austin's room, and eventually I drift off to sleep.

I wake up to Dakota entering the room. I sit up and stretch, "Were you seriously sleeping?" She asks, while plopping down on her bed.

"Yeah, there wasn't anything else to do."I tell her.

"Well my parents are home, and dinner will be ready soon." She says.

I nod, "How was James'?" I ask, even though I am hardly interested.

"Good." She says with a smile, "So, did you meet Dez? He's staying for dinner." She says.

"Yeah I did. He's quite uh strange." I say.

She laughs, "Oh yeah. You get used to it after a while." She says.

Mimi calls all of us down for dinner. Mimi and Mike's friends the Lennox's are over for dinner, and I wasn't aware of them coming over at all. Since there are two extra people eating, Mimi seats us. And guess where I am sitting, between Dez and Austin.

I sit awkwardly and try to hide my horrified expression. Mike introduces the couple to me and Dez, and they start chatting about different things. Lucy Lennox is a therapist apparently, and Trevor Lennox is a doctor. They seem very successful and, well, rich.

I try to focus on what they are talking about to avoid having to pay attention to the people I am seated in between. Mimi went all out with dinner, lobster, rolls and a bunch of different sides. They never eat like this normally, and this is what makes me think the Lennox's are high maintenance.

I take a roll from the basket that is between Dez and I and take a bite.

"Dez, can I have a roll?" Austin asks, pretending I'm not in the middle of them.

"Ask Ally." Dez says, ignoring both of us and breaking a lobster leg apart.

Austin doesn't ask me though; he just goes back to focusing on his food. I grab a roll from the bowl and set it lightly on Austin's plate. He looks at me and smiles slightly, the most attention he's given me lately, but I have a feeling he only did this because his mother was watching.

After dinner, Mimi brings out a huge chocolate cake, with syrup like frosting dripping off of it, with strawberries on top, I found it sort of an odd mixture but ate it anyway, and it was very delicious. I almost wish we had been eating like this every night.

After we were done with dessert, the adults went on the porch and had drinks, and we were excused to do anything we wanted. Dakota went into her room and called James, and I did not want to be stuck in there listening to the conversation so I stayed seated awkwardly at the dining room table, playing with the table cloth.

Dez and Austin walk in, "Let's go night swimming." Dez suggests.

Austin nods, "Okay, sounds awesome." He says happily.

I guess Dez spots me right then and then says, "We should invite Ally." In a loud voice, and I look up at them. Austin's face stays calm, and Dez smiles.

"Uh, that's probably not a good idea." I say.

"Please." Dez says, making a pouting face. I don't know why Dez is so interested in me, but I can tell by Austin's face that he isn't enjoying his attention.

"I shouldn't." I say.

"Its okay, come." Austin says. I look at him and his face is still blank.

I think for a moment, and I guess it's better than sitting at home. I nod and tell them to wait so I can get my bathing suit on. They tell me they will be on the porch.

I get dressed quickly, and tell Dakota what I'm doing and she just waves, too busy on the phone. I seem to have changed, my mood that is, I'm suddenly pumped up, slightly happy, is it because Austin's approving of my presence for the first time today?

Austin drives us to the beach and we walk over to the shore line. It's really dark, and the water's freezing and I suddenly realize this might be a bad idea. I haven't really been swimming in the ocean in a while, and I've never gone at night.

Austin and Dez take off their shirt, and I'm struck by the beauty of Austin's body, and I look away fast. Dez jumps in quickly and I stand there awkwardly staring at the water. Austin gives me an odd look but goes and jumps in anyway.

"Come in Ally!" Dez yells.

"I don't know…" I tell him.

"Come on, don't chicken out!" Austin yells.

I sigh and take off my clothes, revealing my purple bikini. I almost think I see Austin's mouth drop, but he quickly disguises himself by going underwater. Dez's mouth _does_ drop and he doesn't disguise it.

The waves seem heavy and I'm getting a little more frightened then before, but I can hear them yelling for me to get in, they are farther out then I thought.

I jump in and I'm hit with a cold shock, and when I go up for air, a big wave flies over my head, causing me to go under again. This process seems to happen another time and I feel myself choking, my lungs begging for air. That's when I hear distant screams from Austin and Dez, and that's when everything goes blank.


	10. Chapter 10

When everything goes blank, it's only for a moment, and my eyes open and sting instantly while I'm underwater. My mouths open, taking in all the water, I'm trying to go up, trying to find the top of the water, but I can't, my legs and arms feel like they weigh a ton, and I feel like this is it, the end. My eyes start to close themselves, and I struggle to keep them open, but I can't do it, they close.

My eyes flicker open, and it's dark, my lips have a warm feeling, and I look up and Austin is hovering over me. I just coughing and spitting out water. Austin's hand lays on my back as he helps me sit up and continue coughing up water.

Dez is on the phone with someone, standing to the side. Austin's face is full of worry and complete horror, "Ally!" he yells, rubbing my back while I finish coughing.

I look at him, and look around and the true horror of what just happened hits me, I almost just drowned. "Austin?" I say.

He brings me to his bare chest and hugs me, and I'm frozen by his gestures, he didn't like me ten minutes ago, or was it even ten minutes ago?

"Are you okay, your heads bleeding, this is horrible for your concussion, and you almost drowned." Austin goes on and on and I can't find the words to answer his questions. He pulls me from him and looks me in the face. I just stare at him, "Ally?" He asks slightly calmer now.

"What happened?" I ask him, and I start to cry, fear striking me.

"A wave brought you down and you couldn't swim and you hit your head on something." He tells me.

Dez runs over now, "Austin saved you." Dez says, "He kissed you!" He yells.

I look at him confused, Austin rolls his eyes, and "I gave her mouth to mouth, idiot." He tells him.

I touch my lips softly, remembering the warmth I felt on them when I woke up. I had a sudden urge to feel his lips on mine. I just stare at him still, trying to take things in. He rubs my back more, trying to comfort me.

"The ambulance is coming." Dez says.

"No!" I scream, I hate ambulances and hospitals, and I'm already so scared.

"Ally you must go, you hit your head again, it could be serious." Austin says.

"I don't want to go." I say through tears.

And just then the ambulance pulls in and Dez shows them to way to me. They run out and check me over, and after a few minutes they tell me they are bringing me to the hospital. I start to freak out and Austin keeps his arms around me trying to calm me down, "Don't leave me Austin." I beg him.

"Is your boyfriend riding with you?" One of the crew asks.

Before I say anything, Austin says, "Yes." And he helps me into the ambulance. Dez said he's following us in Austin's car.

The ride there is a blur, all I know is Austin didn't leave my side, and I was too scared to talk or react to anything, I just wanted to be home, in my bed.

After waiting a while and the doctors looking me over, I have another concussion that is slightly severe because of my previous one, and I'm not allowed to do anything for a few weeks, like watch T.V or read or anything like that. Austin drove us back to his place, and when I went inside I was smothered with questions from his parents and Dakota. When I couldn't answer any of them since they were all at once Austin told everyone everything, and I begged his parents not to call my father, I didn't want him to come back early and be worried. Finally, when they noticed hoe exhausted I looked, Mike and Mimi went to bed, and Dakota told me she was glad I'm okay, and then went to her room.

He walks me up the stairs slowly and brings me into the guess room, "Why am I sleeping in here?" I ask him.

"Because Dakota is loud and obnoxious and she won't let you get your rest that you need." He says while making the bed for me.

"It's fine." I tell him.

"No, it's not. You need to rest so you can feel better." He says.

He motions for me to lie down, "I'm not in my pajamas." I tell him.

He nods, "Oh, right. Be right back." He says.

I sit down on the bed and wait for him. After a few minutes he's back with a bunch of my clothes. He puts them in the drawers in the room and I clear my throat, "Did you serious just like go through my clothes and bring them in here." I say.

He looks at me, embarrassed, "I didn't touch your underwear." He says.

I laugh at him, which makes my head hurt and I touch it. He runs over to me and sits down, "Are you okay?" He asks.

"I'm fine." I assure him.

"Okay, well I guess I'll let you get some rest." He says and stands up.

"Austin, wait." I say to him.

He turns around and looks at me, "Thank you, for saving my life." I say.

"Don't mention it." He says and starts to walk out again, "Seriously Austin, you don't know what it means to me." I say, and he nods and walks out, not letting me say anything else.

I get into my pajamas and get under the covers. The bed is a lot more comfy than the bed in Dakota's room, and I drift off to sleep fast.

_The water is filling my lungs and I can't breathe, I try to scream but the water won't let me. Everything's blurry and all I feel is pain. I can hear Austin screaming my name, but I can't reach him, the breathing gets more difficult, until I don't try anymore, and I slowly sink to the bottom…_

I wake up, and i immediately start crying, crying so hard, and probably loud, but I don't care. My nightmare felt so real, it was so awful.

My door opens suddenly and Austin walks in, and he comes over to my bed. I don't stop crying and he sits next to me and wraps his arms around me, "Ally what's wrong?" He asks.

"I had a bad dream, I-I drowned." I say threw sobs.

"It's okay, it was just a bad dream, and you're here, your fine." He says, rubbing my hair.

I cry for a little while more until Austin has completely soothed me, and I start to doze off on his chest. He starts to get up, "I should go." He says.

"Please, don't leave me." I whisper.

He hesitates, but he doesn't leave. He gets under the covers next to me and lies down, I lie down next to him and but my head on his shoulder and hand over his chest. He keeps his arm wrapped around me, and I feel safe, safer than I ever have, even though I know this is a terrible idea, we could get caught and be accused of a lot worse, but I don't care, I need him.


	11. Chapter 11

When I wake up in the morning, I'm alone. There's an empty feeling where he was not too long ago. I feel bad for making him stay with me after how I treated him. I feel like I'm stringing along, I haven't told him how I felt, or anything and look at how he's treating me, he's treating me great, he saved my _life_. And I still haven't bothered to tell him how I feel.

I lie in bed for a while, my head pounding and I feel dizzy if I try to stand up, so I decide to just stay here. After drifting off to sleep and waking up, I hear my door creak open. I open my eyes slightly and I see Austin walking in slowly. He lies down on the bed next to me, on his side and faces me.

"Hi." He says.

"Hi." I reply back.

"How are you feeling?" He asks me.

"My head hurts." I tell him.

He gets up and leaves the room, and right before I'm starting to think he isn't going to come back, he arrives at the door holding a pill bottle and a glass of water. He kneels on the bed and hands me two pills and the glass of water, "This will help." He says.

I sit up slightly, ignoring the lingering dizziness, a detail I didn't tell Austin, I nod and take the pills and sip the water. I then lie back down and stare at the ceiling. I can feel the lingering questions and thoughts about my begging of Austin to stay with me last night. I don't know if I could answer any of them, because I don't know what got to me, I just needed him, that's all.

He sits down next to me and watches me, "Everyone's gone." He says.

I turn my head to him and raise an eyebrow, "Where are they?" I ask him.

"Well my parents are out with the Lennox's and Dakota's at James'." He says.

That's a shock, Dakota being with James all the time. I think I should talk to her about it, tell her she has been abandoning me completely, but I won't bother, because if she ends up spending more time with me, that means more time being away from Austin, and I don't want that.

"Oh." I say simply.

"Yeah. Dez wants to go to the mall, but I told him no." He says.

"Why?" I ask him, "Because I'm not leaving you." He replies.

I just look at him, and shake my head, "I am okay, its fine, go." I say.

"No." He says and I can tell by his tone that I won't be changing his mind.

I sigh and put my focus to the ceiling. I don't know what to do; I don't understand why Austin's being so nice to me. I want to tell him to forget what I said, that I want him, I _need_ him. But there's a part of me that still thinks I should stick with my original plan, but it's just getting so hard. I can't get over waking up from almost drowning, and him being the first one I saw. It's like he was an angel or something. This is something I can't get over, I can't get over him.

"I'm going to make you some breakfast." He says and gets up.

I don't protest, since I am quite hungry. After about ten minutes he comes back up to my room with toast with jelly, orange juice, and a bowl of my favorite cereal. I'm wondering how he knew it was my favorite, but I'm not going to ask.

I eat it all down fast, and he sits on a chair across from me reading a sports magazine. When I'm done I lie back, and rub my belly.

"Was it good?" He asks.

"Very. Thank you." I tell him.

After he's done with his magazine he brings my dishes downstairs, and he doesn't come back. I get dressed and walk downstairs, and he's sitting on the couch watching T.V. I sit down next to him, leaving distance between us and watch T.V.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be watching T.V." he says to me.

I turn to him with a pout, "But I'm bored." I tell him.

"Then I'll just have to entertain you." He says and turns off the T.V.

He grabs my hand and pulls me outside to the back yard. He makes me stop in the middle of the yard and he disappears. It's extra hot out today, and the sun is overbearing. I wait for a few minutes, but he's not coming back and I'm starting to get worried.

Until water balloon flies at my feet and pops, splashing cold water up my legs. I scream in shock and look around, but he's nowhere to be seen.

"Austin Moon!" I squeal.

"Yes?" He asks, and I turn around to find him standing there innocently, but he's holding his arms behind his back.

"Don't even think about it." I tell him.

"Think about what?" He asks dumbly.

He charges towards me and I turn around and run, but I'm not fast enough. Suddenly his arm is around my waist and he pops a huge water balloon over my head.

I stand there and shiver and give him a death stare, "Really, with nothing to defend myself with?" I ask.

He hands me a water balloon, "Get me if you can." He says and runs away to the front yard.

I assume he's at the hose loading up more, but I go and hide behind a thick tree trunk with my one lonely balloon, and wait for him to come back.

When he does, he looks all around for me, but he can't see me. When he turns to walk towards the house, I throw the water balloon, except I have horrible aim, and it lands like 6 feet away from him and he starts to laugh.

"Nice one." He says.

"Hey, I have horrible aim okay." I say and hang my head in shame as I walk out of my hiding spot.

"That's cute." He says and throws the water balloons at the ground next to him, "I'm done entertaining you now. I've ran out of ideas." He says.

"Fine." I say and walk into the house following him.

"I'm taking a shower." I say and go upstairs.

While in the shower, I'm just about done shampooing my hair, and I start to get really dizzy. I hold onto the side of the wall and get myself together. When I think I'm okay I continue to wash up, but that's when my dizziness comes back and I lose balance. I start to fall and I hang on to the shower curtain which then rips off the hangers and I fall to the bottom of the shower, just missing bashing my head off of the faucet.

I sigh at my clumsiness and turn off the water, but I'm so dizzy, I stay in a seated position. My fall must have been loud because before I know it, Austin's knocking at the door, "Ally are you okay?' He asks in a panicked voice.

"Yeah, I just got really dizzy and fell, and I'm too dizzy to get up." I say.

I hear the doorknob being turned, "Don't come in here! I'm naked." I say.

"No duh, that's how showers usually are. But don't you need help?" He asks.

"Fine." I say, and lay the shower curtain over me like a blanket.

He comes in and looks at the floor, "See, I'm not looking." He says.

"It's fine, I'm covered." I say.

He looks up and stares at me, "You're really clumsy." He says with a smirk.

I sigh, "I know." I say.

He reaches down for me, trying to find an appropriate place to grab me, and decides for the armpits. He helps me up and I balance on him, wrapping the shower curtain around me.

"You're seriously going to walk out with the shower curtain? Just take the towel." He says, handing me the towel. He looks away and I switch from the curtain to the towel, "There." I say.

He walks me to my room and sits me on the bed, "What would I do without you?" I say seriously.

He shrugs, "It's no big deal." He says.

"It really is. You're being too nice to me Austin, after what I told you, I don't deserve this." I say.

"We don't need to talk about this." He says.

And with that he leaves my room, shutting my door lightly behind him. I sigh and stare at the door. All I want is to run after him and kiss him.


	12. Chapter 12

I'm up all night, tossing and turning, thinking about today, this morning, how Austin treated me. I want to tell him how I feel, and I think it's long overdue. Tomorrow, I will tell him that I love him.

Tomorrow comes fast, since I came to this conclusion at around six A.M, and Dakota came storming into my room, and the clock says 9.

"Get up sleepy head." She says, jumping on my bed.

"Sleepy head? It's only 9." I moan.

"We're going to have a best friend day!" She yells.

Since when is Dakota interested in hanging out with me? I suddenly remember my plans of telling Austin how I felt, there goes that idea. I won't have enough guts to do it by the end of the night.

"Do we have to?" I moan.

"Excuse me?" She asks.

"Well, not to sound bitchy but you haven't showed much interest in me lately so…" I say.

"I'm sorry okay. This is me making it up to you." She says.

"I don't know…" I say.

"Please." She says with a pouting face.

"Fine." I say.

Her face brightens up fast, "Okay awesome! Get dressed and meet me downstairs." She says and jogs out of the room happily.

I'm suddenly weighed down by guilt. I can't tell Austin now, because if Dakota and I get close again, It will be too hard to keep this secret from her. But maybe it shouldn't be a secret. Maybe I shouldn't keep it a secret. Nah, who am I kidding?

I get up slowly, in case I'm dizzy still, but that doesn't happen. I put on a red sort of tight to my body sun dress and brush my hair quickly. I run downstairs and enter the kitchen, where Austin and Dakota are both sitting there eating breakfast.

I grab a pancake and sit down across from them, "So, who are you hanging out with today again?" Dakota asks Austin. His face goes pale and he looks down at his plate.

"What?" He asks.

"You told me you were hanging out with some girl, what was her name, oh yeah, Cassidy!" Dakota says.

I feel the first bite of pancakes appear back in my throat. I look over to Austin who still isn't looking up from his plate, "Uh yeah." He says.

"Oh, a date?" She asks.

"I guess." He says.

I swallow another bite, hard, and force it not to come back. Austin has a date, with some girl, I'm too late, and I've already lost my chance. I put my fork down and stare down at my pancake. Dakota notices my sudden change of mood, "Why are you just staring at your food?" She asks me.

"I seem to have lost my appetite." I say, ignoring the water that's forming in my eyes.

"Okay… I'm going to grab my bag upstairs." She says, and gets out of her seat and leaves the room.

Austin and I are left alone in silence, and I keep my focus on my pancake. It looked delicious when I smothered it in butter and syrup only a minute ago, but right now it looks like something out of a garbage bag to me.

"Ally, I" Austin starts to say, but I push back my chair, get up and leave the room. I wait at the front door for Dakota. I know, this is my fault, I have no reason to react this way because Austin found someone else, I put this on myself, I pushed him away, but I can't fight what I feel about it.

I breathe in and out, and fight back hard against the tears that want to fall. Finally, Dakota comes downstairs and we start walking, "Where are we going?" I ask her.

"We're going to the mall." She says.

"Okay." I say. I don't really enjoy going to the mall that much, but I'll go just because she wants me to.

When we get there, we go to her favorite stores, and I stand back as she buys a bunch of things she likes. She knows I'm not into shopping, so I don't know why she'd pick here.

After a while, we go to the food court and get slices of pizza. We sit down on one of the tables in the middle and start eating, until James suddenly walks over out of nowhere, "Hey baby." He says to Dakota, she stands up and hugs him.

"Hey!" She says happily.

I stare at her over my half eaten pizza, "Why hello James." I say.

"Hey Ally." He says.

"Want to go to the movies?" James asks Dakota.

She then looks at me, and I give her a death glare, "Please." She begs me, putting on the pout face.

"Seriously Dakota, this was supposed to be our day." I say, standing up.

"Ugh, Ally you would understand if you could get a boyfriend." She says. And that's all it takes, those words right there, they flipped a switch in me.

"Kay." I say and I get up, and walk away, out of the food court, out of the mall. My head starts to throb, but I ignore it, and run to the house. Screw this, I'm going to tell Austin right now, screw Dakota, screw James, I want Austin, and I'm going to tell him.

When I get to the house, I'm sweaty and out of breath. I take a second to calm myself and walk through the front door, unprepared for what I'm about to see. Austin kissing, who must be, Cassidy.


	13. Chapter 13

**This chapter is something i think a lot of you readers have been waiting for, actually maybe a few things you have been wanting. **

**Enjoy. Review**

I freeze, my whole body shutting down, I'm unable to move, though it makes me stand here and watch what is going on, but thankfully Austin notices my presence and breaks away from Cassidy. She turns to me, and then back at Austin in confusion.

Austin stands up, and sticks his hands in his pockets, "Ally." He says, and I shake my head at him, hiding the many tears that are falling and I dart upstairs and into the bathroom. I sink onto the floor, leading against the door and let all my tears fall. The pounding in my head comes back, and I remember my concussion, and that only leads to my reminder of who saved me.

I hug my knees to my chest and lay my head on top and cry. This is my fault, my fault. I want to scream, I want to throw things, I want to break things, I want to jump off a bridge.

My loud sobs turn louder until I hear a knock on the door, I completely quiet down, holding my breath so my cries won't make a sound, but the stream of water coming from my eyes doesn't hesitate.

"Ally, please, come out." Austin's voice says.

I don't say anything, and now I have to cup my hand over my mouth to keep myself quiet, but I know it isn't working. I feel something against the door behind me, and I realize that Austin is sitting on the other side, just like I am.

"Ally, I don't understand what's going on." He says softly.

And that's when I hear footsteps running up the stairs, loud and fast, "Where is she?" Dakota's voice asks.

"She's in the bathroom." Austin says.

"Why are you creeping on her?" She asks.

I roll my eyes, suddenly wanting to punch her.

"I'm not. She's crying and I was trying to help." He says.

Great, now she's going to think this is about her, "Christ Ally, I didn't mean to be that harsh." She says to the door.

"What? What did you do?" Austin asks. I know that he knows why I'm actually upset, but he won't say that to her.

"We were hanging out, and James came and she got all moody about me hanging out with him." She says.

Is she seriously blaming me for this? She didn't even come to apologize, how bad of a best friend is she?

This sends me into a huge rage and I can't stop myself from doing what I do next. I open the door, my face is red and wet from the tears and Austin and Dakota are standing there awkwardly, staring at me.

"You're the worst best friend I have ever had! Do you know what you've done to me? You've been treating me like shit since I got her, and you have the nerve to say what you said earlier? News flash, I could get a boyfriend if I really wanted to!" I scream in her face.

Austin's mouth drops open at my words, and Dakota looks down, ignoring me. I have an urge to drop into Austin's arms and be comforted, and I even feel like grabbing him by the shirt and kissing him hard, but I'd just be kissing Cassidy's left over's, so I have no choice but to push through both of them and run out of the hall, run downstairs, and run out of the house. I realize it's down pouring as I get hit with hard rain drops when I am on the sidewalk. I ignore it anyway and run, I run and don't stop, I run to my house.

When I'm there, I know that I won't be getting in, my father didn't leave me a key, so I just sit on the steps, that isn't covering me from the rain, but I could care less. My life is falling apart, and I don't think I can fix it.

I have no more tears to cry so I sit calmly, staring at the sidewalk, staring at the water drops falling into each other. My dad won't be home for 4 days, and I don't know how I am going to last at the Moon's house that long.

After a while, I start to get really cold, and the rain keeps coming down hard, and I'm completely soaked, but I'm stuck here, like this, and I don't want to move, I want to stay here, I want to go inside, I want to go into my own room and sleep on my own bed, and be in Austin's arms.

And the thought of Austin, makes the tears appear back, I'm not longer unable to cry, the tears flow again. I start to feel sick from all the crying and I lay down on my side on the steps.

Eventually, I don't really know how, I fall asleep. And I'm suddenly awoken by someone's hand on my arm. I open my eyes slightly, and they are blurry. I blink a couple times until the familiar blonde comes into focus.

"Austin." I breathe.

"Ally, what have you been doing?" He says, with tears in his eyes.

I start to cry again, "I don't know." I say.

He picks me up then, like I'm a child. I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, and he brings me to his car. He sits down in the truck, and I'm sitting on his lap properly now, my head resting on his shoulder.

"I was so worried about you." He says softly.

I don't say anything; I don't have anything to say, because I am afraid of what I will say.

"Why were you so upset about Cassidy? You pushed me away." He says.

I don't say anything again, and this time he makes me pick up my head, and I look away from him. He cups my chin in his hands and forces me to look him in the eye.

"Please talk to me." He says.

And finally, I can't hold it in anymore, "I didn't want to push you away. I was afraid, and I was going to tell you before, but I never got the chance, and then seeing you with Cassidy hurt me so much." I say in a barely audible voice.

"Tell me what?" He asks.

"Th-That I'm in love with you. I love you more than anything, and anyone." I say, and tears stream down my face.

I expect him to let me down easy now, to tell me I'm too late, but instead he presses his lips to mine, and he starts kissing me. I can't even explain the feeling that happens in that moment. All this time that I've wanted to feel is lips on mine, it's happening now. I kiss him back hard, and we don't stop. I can feel his love right there, the way his lips move with mine. My hands entangle in his hair, and his hands are on my waist, and it was the best feeling in the world.


	14. Chapter 14

We break away, collecting air that we've lost from the amount of time we were kissing. I put my head on his chest and stay like that. He runs his fingers through my soaking wet hair and it just feels like a perfect moment, in a perfectly imperfect time.

The rain stops, and the clouds disappear slightly. I start to remember what I'll have to deal with when we get back to the house; Dakota, and whatever Austin and I. I also suddenly remember Cassidy, and I pull myself away from him and sit down in the passenger seat.

Austin's face turns into confusion, "What's wrong?" He asks.

"What about Cassidy, and Dakota." I say.

"I-I don't know." He says shaking his head.

I keep my focus on the window, and the old rain drops that are sticking to it, and shiver.

"I'll just talk to Cassidy, it will be fine." He says and puts his hand on my shoulder, "It's not like we're even going it, I was just using her as a distraction; as terrible as that may sound." He says.

"Are you sure? You can be with her if you want…" I say.

He turns to me, "You're joking, right?" He asks.

I just shrug, and he puts his hand on my cheek and makes me face him, "You are the only one I want to be with." He says.

"What do I do about Dakota?" I ask him.

"Well, your dad will be home soon, so we can hide it from her until then." He says.

It's true; my dad will be home in four days, I think we can handle this until then. I just don't know how I'm going to handle her until then. At least I'm staying in the guest room now, so I won't have to be around her much. What I do know is, I'm not going to apologize to her, and she doesn't deserve it. If anything, I'm the one that she owes an apology to. I reacted to her being a horrible friend, and it was long overdue.

I sometimes think to myself that I should have went with my dad on this trip, but then I wouldn't have reconnected with Austin, and that's something I don't regret at all.

Austin starts the engine and we drive off, towards his house. I start to panic; I'm not ready for this. What do I say, what do I do? The drive there is too quick, and Austin gets out of the truck, but I stay still; frozen. He walks over to my side and opens the door, "Come on Ally. You have to face this." He says.

I know he'd grab my hand, or carry me in, or anything. But we're at his house now, and that would be showing too much closeness between us. I get out of the truck and walk slowly behind him. He opens the door and his parents are sitting on the couch, and there is no sign of Dakota.

"Where have you two been?" She asks. She doesn't seem mad, just curious. I guess she doesn't know what happened between Dakota and I, which means I'll have to act different with Dakota around them too.

"Ally went for a walk and got caught in the rain, so I went and got her." He says.

I nod at them, confirming his lie, "Well dear go take a warm shower, because you look freezing. Dakota is at James house until late." Mimi says. I nod again and run upstairs. Austin went straight for the kitchen, which didn't surprise me much. When we're here, I'm just his little sister's friend, but only for four days. I can handle this.

Of course Dakota is at James house, sweet, more important than I, James. She probably couldn't stand the thought of having to be around me, even though I am staying clear of her. I jump into the shower, and stand in there for a while, soaking in the warm water. I was pretty frozen, and the warm water is more than amazing. When I'm done I go into my room and get dressed, and then go downstairs, my stomach is growling.

When I get down there, Austin is in the living room with his dad, and Mimi is in the kitchen finishing up baking some cookies. I look in the fridge, trying to find leftovers, "There is left of lasagna in there. But Austin just had some, so good luck getting a good amount." She says with a laugh.

I laugh back and find the container; I put it on the counter and grab a plate, "Well, he actually left me some." I say.

"That's great news. You can grab a cookie after too." She says with a smile.

"Thanks." I say with a smile.

I hear the door open and shut, and Dakota walks into the kitchen. My smile disappears almost instantly and I keep my focus on scooping piles of the lasagna on my plate.

"Hey there, there's leftover lasagna is Ally leaves you some." Mimi teases.

Dakota goes into the fridge and grabs a can of soda, "I ate at James'." She says, and with that, she went upstairs.

Mimi's face turns into an odd expression, "That was weird." She says and walks out of the kitchen. I stick the plate in the microwave and lean against the counter and wait. Austin walks in and grabs a soda from the fridge and leans against the counter next to me.

"Did Dakota see you?" He asks.

I shrug, "Yeah, I guess. She just grabbed a drink and went upstairs." I say.

He rolls his eyes, "That's her for you."

"I don't care. I just want to go home." I say.

The microwave starts beeping and I take the lasagna out of it. I grab a napkin and a fork, and Austin's just looking at me, "I guess I'm going to go eat this in my room… You can join me if you want." I say

"I got to watch something with my dad, but I'll be up later okay?" He says and winks at me.

I smile at him and head upstairs. Dakota's blaring music in her room, that happens to be next to my guest room. She's probably doing it on purpose, but I don't care. We have the same taste in music, so how is it going to bother me? I sit down on my bed and chow down on my food. After I'm done I bring the plate downstairs and wash it quickly, and then go back to my room.

I lie down on my bed and close my eyes, and drift to sleep, until I hear a light knock on my door. I run over to it and open it to see Austin standing there. The lights are off in the hallway so everyone must be asleep. I let him in and he jumps onto my bed. I giggle at him and lay down next to him.

"What's up?" He asks.

"I am just laying here." I say and giggle at my seriousness.

"Were you sleeping?" He asks me.

"What? No." I say.

"That's why it took you like ten minutes to finally hear my knocking?" He asks with a smile.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I say and cross my arms, and try to hide a smile.

"Is that so?" He says.

He rolls over towards me and starts tickling me, "Hey!" I yell at him.

"Shh." He says, but continues to tickle me.

He won't stop, so I roll over on top of him and pin his arms down. I know he's just letting me win, because there is no way I'm stronger than him. My legs straddle his waist and I keep my hands locked on his wrist, "I win." I say.

"You wish." He says.

"Is that so?" I ask him, and I take one hand and start tickling his tummy. He starts laughing hard, and tries to stop me but I roll over and dodge his attack, but I roll over to far and fall right off the bed onto my back with a loud thud. I hold my breath, afraid that my noise is going to wake his parents. He jumps off the bed and runs over to me, "God Ally are you okay?" He asks.

I sighed dramatically, "No, I need mouth to mouth." I tell him. He laughs at me and lays down next to me on the floor.

"This is comfy." He says.

"I really like the rug." I say, agreeing with him.

"So, you still need mouth to mouth?" He asks with a smile. I nod fast.

He rolls over on top of me and kisses me, supporting himself on his hands. He only kisses me quickly and rolls back over, "That's all I get?" I ask him.

"You know it." He says.

"That's mean." I whine.

I get up and jump back on the bed, leaving him on the floor, "That was mean." He says.

"You were mean first." I say.

"True." He says.

Then we hear a noise from the hallway, and then a voice, "Austin?" They call, its Dakota. Austin jumps up, says a swear word and opens my door a crack, peaking out. He waits a minute and then creeps out and I guess runs to his room. I hear him and Dakota talking for a moment and then there's silence, and he doesn't come back to my room. I sigh, she ruins everything.


	15. Chapter 15

The next morning a noise wakes me up, and I open and shut my eyes to clear the blurriness that was caused by sleep and I see my door slowly creeping open. I prop up on my shoulders and see Austin pokes his head in the small crack of the door and a smile crosses my face. I lie back down and I hear the door shut, and then feel the weight on my bed shift. I turn my head and Austin is lying next to me.

"Good morning sunshine." He says to me. He turns on his side and his face is right next to mine.

"Good morning." I say to him.

"I'm sorry about last night. Dakota just had to remind me that I promised her I'd take her to the fair on Friday." He says, sighing.

"She had to remind you of that last night?" I asked him.

"Yeah, she has bad timing. I totally forgot I promised her I'd take her to that, like months ago." He says.

"It's okay." I tell him.

He shakes his head slightly and rolls over onto him stomach, shoving his face into my pillow. "It's not okay because now I have take I don't." I couldn't understand him because of his muffled speech through the pillow.

"Okay, I didn't get any of that but its fine, I'll be going home the next morning and I'll just take my time getting all my stuff together that day." I tell him.

He turns back over and his face is back close to mine, "Okay." He says. I smile at him and nod, and then a smile appears on his face. He leans over and kisses me softly for a few moments and then lies back down again.

"This is a nice morning." I say to him.

"Yeah, well everyone's gone so I jumped at my opportunity to have time with you." He says.

I smile, even though he probably can't see it, and take in his scent next to me. I wish I could wake up to this every morning. But I'm leaving Saturday, and it's not like it would matter if I wasn't. He's only in here now because no one's home. If they were, he'd have to avoid me and act like we weren't together, and I'm already getting sick of it. How are we going to tell them about us when I go back home, or are we even going to tell him? What even are we?

I sigh out loud at myself for all of the questions lingering in my mind and it gets Austin's attention, he once again turns over and faces me, "What's wrong babe?" He asks; _Babe_? Isn't that a nickname boyfriends and girlfriends use?

I shake my head, "Nothing." I say.

"I know that when a girl says 'nothing', it's definitely _something_." He says.

I shift under my blanket and start playing with the comforter, making no eye contact. I don't know how to ask, or even what to ask him. I'm afraid that I don't want to know the answers to my questions or I'll scare him away somehow.

After a few minutes goes by and he realizes I'm not going to respond, he speaks up, "Please tell me what's on your mind." He says.

"I don't know, I was just wondering what-what we are exactly." I ask.

He's silent for a moment, thinking, I assume. I wait patiently, continuing to pull at a loose string on the comforter. It's a nervous habit of mine. I always try to preoccupy myself when I'm waiting for something like this.

"Well, I'll be whatever you want me to be Ally." He says finally.

"I just want you to be mine." I say, and then I realize what I said, and I can't believe I said it. I've never been able to just full out tell a guy something like that. But he smiles right away and says, "Then I'm yours."

I smile back at him and sit up, and he mimics my movements. He puts his hand on my chin and kisses me; longer this time, and a little more passionately. It gives me these butterflies that I've never felt before, and I definitely like it.

He pulls away after our kiss and looks me in the eyes, with a big smile on his face. His smile makes me melt, and it brightens my day. It's seriously the best thing I've ever seen. His touch sends chills down my spine too, man I got it bad.

"Would you like to come downstairs with me, I'll cook you breakfast." He says.

"Sure." I tell him.

He grabs my hand and helps me off the bed, and we walk downstairs together. I sit down at the counter and I watch him prepare our breakfast; pancakes, of course. I smile at him while he calmly hums a tune to himself and starts mixing the pancake batter together. He notices me watching him and turns red, "What?" he asks with his cute smile.

I shake my head, "Nothing, I'm just watching this really good looking guy make me breakfast." I tell him.

He sticks his tongue out at me and continues his work. He makes a huge stack of pancakes and sets them on the counter, and after getting the butter and syrup out of the fridge, along with some orange juice and two glasses, he takes a seat next to me.

He grabs about 5 pancakes and puts them on his plate. I grab two and smother them in syrup and butter while he pours us our orange juice. We sit there, eating pancakes and chatting about normal things, and I can't help thinking of how right this feels. I could get use to spending time like this with him, and I can't ignore the butterflies from our conversation earlier. He's _mine_, and that's just about the best thing I've ever heard.

After breakfast I go upstairs and get dressed, while Austin goes into the living room and watches T.V. I guess Dakota is expected back by 1 from a summer program, so I'll be staying clear of Austin then, but when I look at the clock, I have three hours, and I'm going to take them.

I go downstairs and take a seat next to Austin. He doesn't take his eyes off of the television, so I stare at him impatiently. Doesn't he know we should enjoy our precious alone time? I clear my throat and he turns to me. He smiles at me, and then turns his attention back to the television, I sigh, and try to pose like some sexy lingerie model, but seeing how I'm Ally, I look completely awkward, and when he turns and looks at me again, he starts to laugh. I go back to normal and stare at the floor, with a pouting face.

"Hey, don't be sad." He says and wraps his arms around me, "It was cute how you were trying." He says, "Even though you don't even have to try." He says too.

I cuddle up to his chest and inhale his Austin smell. We stay like that for a little, while he sneaks his attention back to the television. When whatever he was watching ends, his hands find my face and he starts kissing me. I know I enjoy this attention from him, that's for sure. We keep kissing until we both need to catch our breath.

"You're a good kisser." He says with a smile.

"What?" I ask him, not believing him, "You're 19, I'm sure you've kissed a lot of girls that are better than me."

He laughs, "Maybe I have kissed other girls, but you're the best." He says.

I smile at him, and then my face turns pink, "Well, I could say you're the best I've ever kissed, but you're the only one." I say cautiously.

His eyes widen slightly, "I was your first kiss?" He asks. I nod at him.

"I'm sorry; if I had known that I would have asked or made it better or…" He says but I interrupt him.

"Are you kidding? It was amazing. I mean how romantic, in your truck, after being soaked by the rain. That's like a scene in the movies." I tell him.

He smiles at my words and I continue, "I'm glad you were my first kiss." I say.

"Well that's good." He tells me. Then he looks at his phone for the time, "So what would you like to do for our last two hours of freedom?"

I giggle at his words, "I'm not sure. What would you like to do?" I ask.

"Well you could mow the lawn for me." He says with a big grin.

"You wish." I tease.

"Okay, well I have to go feed my neighbors dog. I've been feeding him for a few days while Mrs. Henderson is away. Want to come with me?" He asks.

"Sure." I tell him.

I follow him over to Mrs. Henderson's house. He grabs a house key from under the cute yellow welcome mat, and unlocks the door. I hear a dog barking and suddenly, a huge German Sheppard is charging towards me. I squeal and hide behind Austin, who gets jumped on by the dog, but he just laughs at me and pets him.

"He may be big, but Baxter is harmless." He says.

I peak around Austin's side and Baxter looks at me. I come out from hiding and pet him, and he starts licking me to death. I start to giggle as his tongue tickles my cheek, "See, harmless." Austin says.

He walks over to the counter and grabs a big blue bowl with Baxter's name printed on it and goes into a small closet at the end of the room and fills the bowl with food. He sets it down and Baxter's attention automatically goes from me to his food that he starts to eat. Austin walks over to me and hugs me, and I hug back tightly. When the dog is done eating, Austin and I walk out to the fenced in backyard and watch him run around frantically, enjoying the open space.

Austin hands me a tennis ball and I throw it towards Baxter who happily grabs it and brings it back to me. We do this over and over again for a while, until Austin says we should go back to his house. Playing with Baxter makes me want to have a dog, but my dad's allergic, so that won't happen until I move out.

No one's home when we get back. But Dakota is expected at any moment. I walk upstairs and go to my room, and Austin follows me. I sit down on my bed and he takes a seat right next to me, "Did you have fun?" He asks.

I nod, "I did. It makes me want a puppy." I tell him.

He smiles, "I'll write that down for future gifts." He says and winks at me.

I laugh and shove him playfully, "Well wait until I'm like 18 and moved out because my dad's allergic so I can't have a dog in my house." I say.

He laughs and says, "Okay."

I look at the clock out of habit and turn back to Austin, "I'm surprised you followed me in here, I mean Dakota's going to be home at any moment." I say.

"I know, but I had to do this first." He says. He leans in and kisses me softly, making me feel those butterflies and pulls away with a smile, "I'll see you later Ally." He says, and with that, he leaves my room.


	16. Chapter 16

That night we have spaghetti for dinner, and surprisingly Dakota joins us. She's been avoiding any room that I've been in lately, and I can't say that I've minded. But tonight the Moon's insisted we all sit down together and eat. I'm seated next to Austin, with Dakota and Mimi across from us and Mike at the head of the table. I'm pretty sure Mike and Mimi have noticed the tension between Dakota and I, and I guess they just don't want to ask. Well for all I know Dakota and her mother could have talked about it, but no one has bothered to get my side of the story if that's the case.

Austin keeps poking me secretly, and trying not to look at me to much so he won't be suspicious. This is weird, I'll admit, having to hide this. I don't think Mimi would even care. I know Dakota would, but I don't know about Mike.

"So how was everyone's day?" Mimi asks while twirling her spaghetti.

"Fine, I fed Baxter like usual." Austin says.

"How's that going? How much longer are you feeding him?" She asks.

"She gets back Friday, so until then." He says and takes a bite of his food.

I eat slowly, looking from face to face, listening to the conversation. I just want this to be over with, and I want to go to my room and cuddle with Austin, but I don't even know if that will be happening tonight, because Dakota could walk in or something and ruin everything.

When dinners over I go upstairs to my room and lay across my bed reading a magazine. I come across the horoscope page and decide to look up mine for the hell of it. It talks about summer and stuff, and the last line just so happens to say, _your secrets will come back to bite you_. I shut the magazine hard and throw it across the room. Now I know why my father always tells me that those magazines are trash.

I look at the clock and it's almost eleven, so I decide to get under the covers on my bed and get warm. It was a colder summer night, and my window was wide open, but I didn't want to shut it because the noises outside soothe me. My face is cold too, so I put the covers over my head. I'm about to drift off to sleep when I hear my door creak open slowly. A smile appears on my lips, even though no one can see it.

I hear the door shut and then when I think he might have not come in he whispers, "Ally?"

"Under here." I whisper back. I remove the blankets from over my head and he starts to laugh quietly.

"What are you doing under there?" He asks.

"Oh you know, building a fort." I say sarcastically.

"Can I join?" He asks with a big smile. I nod my head almost instantly and he jumps into my bed and under the covers. The blankets cover both our heads and we lay on our backs next to each other.

It's silent for a few minutes until Austin speaks up, "Your fort is hard to breathe in." He says. I laugh and lift the blanket off of his face so it isn't suffocating him, "See, all better." I tell him.

"Why thank you. But since I'm short of breath, I mind as well keep it that way." He says, and before I can ask him what he means, he rolls over so he's slightly on top of me and starts to kiss me. We start to kiss intensely, and before I know it, it's extremely warm under the blanket. I pull away from him and take the covers off of our faces and gasp for air.

He puts his hands behind his head and relaxes, and laughs at me. I turn my head towards him and glare at him. He stops laughing and puts on a puppy dog face, "I'm sorry." He says.

"It's okay." I tell him. I yawn and then stretch, and Austin yawns too. I cuddle up to his side and he wraps his arm around me. We lay like that for a while, as he plays with my hair, I feel myself drifting to sleep, but I fight it.

"I should probably go, as much as I don't want to. But it would probably be bad if I fell asleep." He says.

"I know." I sigh. He kisses me softly and leaves my room, and now I'm left with some sort of empty feeling, and I don't like it.

The next morning Dakota's home when I walk downstairs to the living room. She and Austin are watching television, and neither of them looks up at me when I walk by into the kitchen. Tomorrow's Friday, so they'll be gone to the fair. I'll attempt to enjoy the time alone and the only thing that will get me through the day will be that my dad will be home the next day and I will finally be able to be home too.

I grab a granola bar from the cabinet and go outside on the back deck and sit on the stairs. I figure the weirdness level would go sky high if I sat in the living room with them, so I attempt to get comfortable out here and nibble on my strawberry filled breakfast.

It's a beautiful day, and the breeze through my hair feels especially nice, and I can't help but get lost in my own world, happy thoughts flow through my brain and I feel like I have no cares in the world. Yes, that's what a simple nice summer day can do to Ally Dawson.

When I'm taking my last bite of my food, I see Baxter running across the backyard. My mouth falls open as he jogs on by, not a care in the world. I tilt my head at him, confused. How did he get out of his house? I drop my wrapper on the steps and run over to Baxter, who stands still when he notices me.

"Baxter." I say calmly, and whistle to him.

He lets me get a few feet closet to him and right when I think I will be able to grab on to his collar and get him back home, he books it the opposite direction. I curse under my breath and run back towards the house. I know that Austin needs to know this and I need his help. I don't care what Dakota will say or think.

I run into the house and trip over my own feet, but to my surprise I catch myself. Dakota and Austin both stare at me with their eyes wide, "Baxter, Ran." I say, trying to catch my breath.

"What?" Austin asks.

I take a big deep breath, "I was out on the back porch and Baxter ran by! I tried catching him but he booked it towards the beach." I say.

Before I can finish my sentence Austin jumps up off the couch and runs outside. Dakota gives me a weird look and I just turn around and run after him. I have to run fast to catch up with him, and thankfully he slows down so I can keep up. I point to the direction that I saw him run to and we start calling for him.

"How the hell did he get out?" Austin says.

"That's what I'm wondering." I tell him.

"I can't lose him! Mrs. Henderson is so going to kill me." He whines.

"We will find him." I tell him.

We search along the beach, and stop people walking by and give them a description of Baxter, but no one's seen him. Our search on the beach turns into a search on the boardwalk, and eventually back into town with no sign of him. I can tell by Austin's face that he's losing hope fast, and I start to feel really bad.

The sun is starting to set when we get back to his house. He sits down on the back steps and stays quiet. I take a seat next to him and touch his shoulder, "its okay." I tell him.

"No it's not." He says and shakes his head.

"It is, we'll find"- I start, but I'm interrupted by Cassidy walking over to us, with Baxter. Austin jumps up, with a huge smile on his face and runs over to them.

"You found him!" He says.

He kneels down to pet a happy, safe Baxter, and I linger on the steps, watching the whole scene unfold. Cassidy smiles at him, and he stands up and hugs her. I look at them in confusion, and then pretend to stare at something on my fingernail for the rest of the time.

"He just ran into me pretty much, and I thought he looked familiar and I then I remembered seeing him next door." She says.

"Yeah I'm watching him for my neighbor and I couldn't find him! I'm so glad you did!" He says with excitement.

"No problem. Are we still on for tonight?" She asks.

Austin stiffens, and I get a sick feeling in my stomach when I realized, he hasn't even talked to her yet. Are those plans that they have actual hang out plans, or is he telling her whatever they have is over?


	17. Chapter 17

"Yes we are." Austin says, avoiding looking at me.

He pets Baxter a few more times, and there's a very awkward silence between all of us. Eventually Cassidy breaks it, "Well, I'm going to go. See you later." She says to Austin and then smiles lightly at me and walks away.

Austin stands up, holding Baxter by the collar, "I should bring him back." He says.

"Kay." I say, and stay seated on the steps, staring at my hands.

"I'll be right back." He says.

I nod and hear him walk away. I can tell by how he's acting that he's guilty of something, and I know he knows I'm upset. What's he going to say about this? What's going to be his excuse? Or will he not even give me an excuse? Maybe he will keep quiet about it, and make me wonder for myself.

I think of going inside, but it's just as awkward in there. It sucks to feel so out of place around here, and it makes me look forward to my dad being home even more now. My father really should have left me a key, since tomorrow's Friday and Austin's going to be out all day with Dakota and then with Cassidy. My stomach feels sick as I think about the last part.

Austin comes back about five minutes later, and I'm still in the same position. He takes a seat next to me and mimics my posture. We sit like this for a while, until he speaks, lowly, "I'm sorry. I know this makes me look bad but I just hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her so I figured tomorrow would be the best time." He says.

"Couldn't you have just told her some other way?" I ask.

"She's a good person; she doesn't deserve to get hurt." He says.

"So what are you going to do? She'll be so upset in person that you won't do it and then you'll live happily ever after with her." I say lowly, choking back a tear.

He turns to me, and rests his hand on my cheek, making me face him, "You're the one I want to be with Ally. I promise you that." He says.

I avoid eye contact still, and I can't stop a tear from slipping down my cheek, "Ally I love you." He says.

I realize that this is the first time he's said it. I told him I loved him that night in the truck but he hadn't said anything back, and now he's said it. I look at him now, and I can't help but smile at what he said. He smiles back slightly and presses his lips to mine. He kisses me softly for a moment until we hear someone clear there throat. We break away from each other fast and we both turn to see Dakota standing in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest, an odd look on her face, "Well what do we have here?" She asks.

Austin and I are both speechless, and frozen in front of her. She's caught us, this is it. What's going to happen now? "You two are little sneaks aren't you?" She says.

"What do you care?" Austin says.

"Your screwing around with my best- my ex best friend. That's just gross." She says.

"I'm not screwing around with anyone." He says.

"Oh okay. Let me guess you two are madly in love." She says and pretends she's about to puke.

"Why have you turned into such a bitch?" I ask.

She turns to me, shocked by my words. I'm a little shocked too, but it was very necessary, "What did you just say?" She asks.

"You heard me." I reply.

"You're the one sneaking around with my brother!" She yells.

"I wouldn't have to sneak around if you weren't a normal, good best friend! You said this was going to be our summer! And I pushed away my feelings for Austin because I didn't want to ruin us! But you kept ditching me for James, so why shouldn't I be happy too?" I yell back.

She rolls her eyes at me and walks inside. Austin and I are left on the porch; the only noises in the air are crickets and frogs in the weeds, and the distant sounds of the ocean. I look at Austin and he looks at me with sad eyes. Neither of us knows what's going to happen next, and I don't think we want to.

"At least I go home in two days." I say.

"I guess I got out of having to hang out with her tomorrow." He says.

We both walk in slowly, and Austin's parents are in the living room watching T.V. They both smile at us and then turn their attention back to the screen. Well I guess that means Dakota hasn't said anything to them yet, which is surprising.

Austin goes up the stairs first, and I follow him a distance behind. Dakota's door is shut, which means she's in there for the rest of the night. I go into my room and lay down on my bed, sighing loudly. I hear my door shut and I sit up to see Austin walking towards me. He sits down on my bed next to me and just stares at me.

"Yes?" I ask.

"Dakota knows." He says.

I look at him oddly, "I'm aware, I was there." I say.

"She didn't tell my parents." He says.

"Yet again, I am aware." I say.

"You know what this means?" He asks.

"What?" I ask.

"On Saturday when you go home, we can both tell our parents, and then we'll be free. We'll be able to be together, no sneaking around." He says with a big smile.

A smile appears on my face, because I realize he's right. This is all almost over, we'll finally be able to be normal boyfriend and girlfriend, and it will be amazing.

**Yeah guys, this means it is sadly coming to an end soon.**


	18. Chapter 18

I decide to skip breakfast when I wake up. I don't want to remind Dakota of my existence, in case she would decide to tell everyone about me and Austin, causing her parents to choke on their toast.

When I do go downstairs, Mike and Mimi are at work, Dakota is nowhere to be found, and when I realize Austin isn't either, I get a sick feeling in my stomach when I realize he must be Cassidy. But I trust him, and I know he's doing the right thing. I just hope she doesn't make him feel too guilty.

When I go into the kitchen, there is a small package on the table, and my names on it. I pick it up and realize it's from my dad. Why would he send me anything?

I open it up and read the note first, "Ally, I'm sorry I never left you a key, and it will probably be too late by the time you get this, but here you go. Love dad." It says.

That's when the key falls out. I pick it up and stare at it. A house key, which means I can go home today instead of having to wait another day in this house. I can get away from Dakota. I smile big and I have to stop myself from dancing around the room.

I run up stairs and slam my door shut. I grab my suitcase from under my bed and start packing. I shove everything I possibly can into it, without bothering to fold anything. I don't live that far, they won't wrinkle that quickly right?

I'm almost done packing when Austin walks into my room. He walks over to me and watches me go back and forth from the dresser to my suitcase, "Packing early?" He asks.

"No! I got my house key in the mail from my dad, so I get to go home today!" I say happily.

"You're going to stay all alone at your house tonight?" He says.

Huh, I didn't really think of that. I was too excited to be able to go home that I didn't think of having to be there all alone for a night. I hate being alone.

"Oh, I guess so." I say.

"Will you be okay?" He asks.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I say.

"Okay, I can give you a ride there when you're ready." He says.

"Alright cool." I tell him.

I wait until Mike and Mimi come home, so I can let them know what I'm doing and thank them for letting me stay. I swear I saw a tear in Mimi's eyes when she said goodbye. I told her how I don't live far and it's not like she's never going to see me. But she says I'm like a daughter to her, which made me feel good. Dakota wasn't home, so I lied and said I texted her about leaving.

The ride to my house was silent, neither Austin nor I had anything to say I guess. When we pulled in, he grabbed my bags for me and I unlocked the door. He put them upstairs in my room and met me in my kitchen, "Would you like to stay for dinner? I'm going to make pizza." I said.

"Sure." He says.

I grab all the stuff I need and we both start making our own small pizzas. I put extra cheese, and mini pepperonis on mine, while Austin put extra pepperoni and sauce on his. When we put them in the oven we sat down in the living room on the sofa. The silence occurred again, and I can't help to think that it's because of his chat with Cassidy earlier.

"So, how was Cassidy…?" I say hesitantly.

"Okay, she took it fine really." He says.

"Do you feel bad?" I ask him.

"Not really." He says.

"Well, that's good." I say.

"It is, because I have you." He says with a smile.

He leans in and kisses me softly, for just a moment. But when we break away, our eyes stay locked, and before I know it his lips are on mine again. Our kiss gets more intense, and before I can stop myself, I'm crawling on his lap, straddling his waist with my legs.

We don't stop kissing, and i start to feel his hands move from on my waist, to under my shirt. I feel his hands on my bare skin on my sides and I start to get goose bumps. I run my fingers through his thick blonde hair and we both deepen the kiss. Before I know it, I feel his hands bringing my shirt up, and that's when the alarm goes off on the stove, telling us our pizzas done. We both jump apart, frightened by the sudden noise. We're both gasping for air, and I jump off the couch and run into the kitchen.

I grab a pot holder and take both pizzas out of the oven, but the pot holder was thin, causing my hand to sting a little, "Ouch!" I yell and set down the pizzas.

Austin comes jogging in, "Are you okay?" He asks.

"Yeah, fine." I say.

I cut slices into each pizza and hand Austin a plate. We both grab a couple and sit down at the table. We both sit there quietly, taking small bites of our pizza. The air between us is awkward. Neither of us about to bring up what almost started to happen not too long ago.

When we're done eating, Austin says he'll clean up so I can go upstairs and unpack my things. I jog up the stairs, trying to clear my mind, and start taking out my bags, separating the dirty clothes from the clean ones. The dirty pile is getting bigger, and I feel as though tomorrow will defiantly be a laundry day.

I'm throwing my suitcases in my closet when Austin joins me in my room. He sits down on my chair in front of my desk and watches me finish unpacking. When I'm done, I sit down on my bed and we both look at each other.

"So earlier…" He says.

I nod, "Yeah?"

"I'm sorry if, if I was taking it too far." He says.

"You weren't." I say.

"Are you sure? I don't want to freak you out, or scare you. Or make you think I just want to get in your pants." He says.

"I know that you aren't like that, its okay." I tell him.

It's getting late, and Austin looks at his phone and realizes how late it actually is, "I should go." He says.

I stand up, and walk over to him. I wrap my arms around his waist, and he hugs me back, "What's wrong?" He asks.

"I'm scared. I don't want to be alone." I tell him.

"I said something about this earlier. You could have stayed at my house." He tells me.

"I just wanted to be home, I didn't really think about it." I tell him.

He moves away from me and makes me face him, "I can stay with you if you want. And I'll leave early so your father won't come home and freak." He says.

I nod at him, "Okay." I say.

"I'll set up a bed on the couch, do you have some blankets?" He asks.

"You can sleep with me." I tell him.

"Are you sure?" He asks.

I nod at him and grab my pajamas. I go into the bathroom and change quickly, realizing I'm having my first sleep over with a boy. And he happens to be thee Austin Moon, the most attractive boy I've seen. When I'm done I crawl into bed while Austin goes downstairs and grabs another slice of pizza; boys I tell you.

By the time he gets upstairs, I've dosed off a few times. I'm almost asleep this time when I hear him say my name. I blink a few times and look at him. He's standing awkwardly next to my bed. I sit up, "What's wrong?" I ask him.

"I don't have anything to sleep in. And I hate sleeping in jeans." He says.

"Just sleep in your boxers. I'm not a prude twelve year old." I say. We both laugh at that and I turn over and hide under the covers. I feel him crawl into bed a few minutes after and before I know it his arm is wrapped around my waist.

"Goodnight Allyson Dawson. I love you." He whispers in my ear.

"I love you too Austin Moon." I whisper back.

xXxXx

The next morning Austin leaves bright and early. I'm about to start my second load of laundry when I hear my front door open. I run downstairs and practically jump on my dad, "Dad!" I yell and hug him.

He laughs, "Wow, I've never seen you so excited to see your old man." He says.

"You've been gone too long!" I say.

I help him with his bags and then pour him a glass of ice tea and grab him a slice of left over pizza. We sit together for a while, talking about his trip and what I've been up to. The conversation lasts for a while, until Austin texts me and reminds me that I have something to tell him.

"So dad, I have something to tell you." I tell him.

He sets his glass down, "Oh boy. What did you do?" he asks.

I laugh nervously, "Nothing really…" I say.

"Go ahead, I can take it." He says.

"Okay, well you obviously know the Moons." I say.

He laughs, "No not at all. I just let you stay with strangers for two weeks." He says.

"Funny." I say, "Well you remember Austin right?" I ask.

"Oh yes. He was off at school right?" He asks.

"He was, but he's home now. And well we really reconnected and we're… together." I say.

"Together, like dating?" He asks.

I nod, "Yeah." I say.

"And you were living with him. That doesn't seem very appropriate." He says.

"We kept it very professional. We didn't really start dating until I left. We acted like total friends." I tell him. Most of it was the truth, right?

"I believe you. I trust you Allyson; you're very mature for you age. But he is older, just be careful okay? I don't want you to get hurt." He says.

"Thanks dad!" I say and kiss him on the cheek. My dad approves! Now it's the Moon's turn…

I go up to my room and wait patiently, hoping Austin is telling his parents right now. He isn't replying to my texts and I'm starting to get really nervous. I start pacing back and forth, until my father yells at me from downstairs, saying my footsteps are annoying him. I sigh and jump onto my bed, the suspense is killing me.

I hear a knock at the door and I jump up and run downstairs. I almost run into my father, but I get to the door first. When I open it, I'm shocked at what I see. It's Austin, _and _Dakota.

Austin smiles at me, and I lean against the door, "Uh, hi." I say.

"I told my parents. Everything went well, I'll tell you more later." Austin says and winks at me.

"Okay." I say, eyeing Dakota who is staring at the ground.

"And Dakota is here to talk to you. I'm going to go inside and chat with your father… He doesn't want to kill me right?" He asks.

I laugh, "Right"

He kisses me on the forehead and walks inside. Dakota goes over to the steps and sits down. I hesitate but sit down next to her. We sit in silence for a while until she decides to finally talk.

"I know I've been such a horrible best friend. I don't blame you for everything you've said to me. I've deserved it." She says.

I don't say anything, because I'm too surprised her actions. I can hear her voice cracking when she continues, "I don't know why I would care if your dating my brother. I was just jealous because you would only want to be with him when you came over, even though I was choosing James over you. But he's my first real boyfriend and I let it get to me head. I'm so sorry." She says, and is looking at me now.

"It's okay." I tell her, because it is. She's apologizing like this, how can I not accept it? I'm too nice. I can't handle this.

"No it's not. It really isn't. I know our friendship won't ever be the same after this but I hope we can start to fix it." She says.

"Okay." I tell her.

She starts to cry harder and she brings me in for a hug. We stay like that for a few minutes until she gets up, "I should go. Thank you for listening." She says.

I walk inside after and find Austin and my dad glue to the television watching some sports show. I laugh at the sight; they look like they're getting along already. Maybe everyone over reacted about this. This isn't so bad is it? When two people really love each other, no one should stop it; no one should be able to stop it. If it's meant to be, then it should happen.

I sit down between Austin and my dad with a big smile on my face. I think about my future that I'll hopefully be having with Austin, and how everything really did work out. I think life's going to be really good from now on.

**Well that's it. I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for all the support and reviews, it's meant so much to me! I still have my story Mayday, and i will be starting a new one soon. **


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